Sydney Contemporary 2024

Djakaŋu Yunupiŋu

Distinguished Yolŋu artist and winner of the prestigious 2024 Wynne Prize, presented by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Djakaŋu Yunupiŋu presents a breathtaking collection of largescale monochromatic paintings on reclaimed timber board, bark, paper and larrakitj (hollowed tree trunk). Yunupiŋu’s celestial paintings depict the Djulpan story, the Yolŋu Poetic Law of the Pleiades constellation, in her own retelling of the inherited knowledge passed down to her by her father. A rising star in Australian contemporary art, Yunupiŋu is celebrated for her sublime and sophisticated interpretations of Yolŋu knowledge.

Betty Kuntiwa Pumani

Highly respected ngangkari (traditional healer) and one of Australia’s most distinctive and sophisticated painters, Betty Kuntiwa Pumani is renowned for her visionary compositions of her ancestral Country, Antara in northwest South Australia. Beyond the visual landscape, Pumani's paintings of Antara speak to deeper resonances relating to family, ancestors, and inherited knowledge, becoming part of the ongoing, eternal story of her Country. A two-time winner of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory; winner of the Wynne Prize, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Len Fox Painting Award, at the Castlemaine Art Museum, Pumani is a highly celebrated and sought after artist.

Dean Smith

Internationally renowned ceramicist and painter, Dean Smith's practice draws from his Māori ancestry and his observations of the landscapes of Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Victoria, Australia. Smith’s work conveys the delicate and intangible aspects of a landscape - capturing elusive fleeting moments of colour, light and form. A specialist in his process, Smith’s hand-built ceramic sculptures are commanding and serene, gleaming with their crystalline glazes. His paintings transfer the shimmer of his ceramics to canvas, emitting the light, beauty and vulnerability of the sub-alpine plateau landscapes of Victoria's high-country that has inspired his current collection - a place of metallic snow gums, and ice-laden meadows of grey and violet grasses. Smith' considered practice has been celebrated in several major national and international awards and he has undertaken artist residencies in Taiwan, Denmark and Poland.

Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (c.1924 - 2015)

Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (c.1924 - 2015) is one of Australia’s most influential and important contemporary artists. A master of composition and colour, her practice was deeply transformative to the national and international perception and appreciation of the Australian landscape painting, and her oeuvre continues to shape the Australian contemporary art scene.

To mark 100 years since Gabori's birth and to honour her continuing artistic legacy, Alcaston Gallery and the Estate for Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (c.1924 - 2015) presents an exclusive release of paintings by the late artist. In blushing fuchsia and audacious swathes of reds and oranges these paintings boldly portray Gabori’s home and Country on Bentinck Island, Queensland in the dazzling colour and light of the Gulf of Carpentaria.