Betty Kuntiwa Pumani’s paintings reveal a shimmering landscape of red earth, bright blue waterholes and stippled white tobacco flowers. They represent Antara, her mother’s Country in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in north-western South Australia, and Tjukurpa storylines centred on maku, the witchetty grub.

Betty Kuntiwa Pumani: maḻatja-maḻatja (those who come after) is the artist’s inaugural museum survey, encompassing key loans from public and private collections, including works shown publicly for the first time.

Maḻatja-maḻatja is a Pitjantjatjara term meaning ‘those who come after,’ carrying the understanding that all we do now already belongs to future generations – a thread connecting ancestral past to distant future through ongoing care for Country, culture, and story.

Image Caption Betty Kuntiwa Pumani, Antara, 2020 (detail), synthetic polymer paint on linen. Courtesy of the Artist, Mimili Maku Arts and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Image, © Betty Kuntiwa Pumani/Copyright Agency, 2025, photograph: Jessica Maurer.