Thebarton gallery for deep cultural art from Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, South Australia

Nita Williamson's Ngayuku ngura – My country, among works featured at the APY Lands Gallery.
Image courtesy APY Lands Gallery

APY Gallery Adelaide, later based at George Street in the inner west suburb of Thebarton, originally opened in the city’s Light Square in 2019 as a showcase for Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands artists in South Australia’s far northwest. Another APY Gallery was opened in Darlinghurst, Sydney.

The galleries was run by APY Art Centre Collective, a group of 11 Indigenous-owned and governed enterprises in the APY Lands. The collective worked with a united vision and voice on strategic business initiatives and collaborative artistic projects.

The APY galleries were a platform for emerging Indigenous artists from the APY Art Centre Collective to connect with a wide audience outside of their remote communities, gain professional development and build a network within the art industry supporting them to pursue successful arts careers.

But South Australians were slow to recognise the wealth of talent from the unique APY art movement that had gained an international profile for producing some of the best Indigenous paintings in Australia. Up to 30% of sales in 2019 from the APY Gallery were made by overseas buyers and another 50% were from the eastern states.

That year, 17 artists from the APY Lands were shortlisted for one of Australia’s longest-running art prizes, The Wynne Prize, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Two of the gallery’s residents artists, Sammy Lyons and Leah Brady, were finalists in 2020 for the Telstra national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art awards.

The APY Art Gallery combined a studio with room for 20 artists and an exhibition space run by not-for-profit APY Art Centre Collective. It provides a stable income for the artists 80% of the price for artworks going back to that community.