National Library of Australia
Explore the decades-long, remarkable efforts of the Papunya community to record language and culture and keep it alive.
The exhibition, Wangka Wakaṉutja: The Story of the Papunya Literature Production Centre, brings the readers to life and builds on a recent exhibition on show at the Library and Archives NT in Darwin. It features stories, drawings, photographs, manuscripts, ephemera and oral histories from the collections of the Papunya community, Papunya School, National Library of Australia, Australian National University, and other private collections.
The exhibition is curated by Karen McDonald, Roslyn Dixon, Kuḻaṯa Dennis Nelson, Priscilla Brown, Charlotte Phillipus, Vivien Johnson, Samantha Disbray, Dr Guy Hansen, Allister Mills and Loris Gulliver.
A landmark publication from NLA Publishing, also titled Wangka Wakaṉutja: The Story of the Papunya Literature Production Centre, will be released simultaneously with the exhibition opening. It shares the overarching story of this important Aboriginal literary movement, powered by collective creativity and cultural pride and the remarkable story of the books they made, from their creation and use to their loss and rediscovery. The book includes fully illustrated recreations of several Papunya readers in Pintupi-Luritja language.
Details of this free exhibition here