Breaking Ground: Artists from the Desert Ranges presents nineteen senior artists from across the seven art centres of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, drawn from a private Melbourne collection. Working between 2008 and 2015, these artists shared a common cultural ground in Tjukurpa the Law that orders Country, kinship and identity and its songlines that pass through and connect the communities of the region. Artists during this period produced paintings of radically distinct, individual visual language and the tension between shared knowledge and individual presence, is the great achievement of the period.

Presented west to east, from Ninuku Arts through Tjungu Palya, Tjala Arts, Ernabella Arts, Kaltjiti Arts, Mimili Maku Arts and Iwantja Arts, each art centre is treated not as a production studio but as a cultural and historical structure shaped by the artists who worked there. Many of the artists hold significant institutional standing — represented in the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia and Queensland Art Gallery, among prize finalists and winners — yet secondary-market recognition has not kept pace. Works by senior women and senior men are presented separately, in Sydney and Melbourne, reflecting the distinct custodial relationships each holds to Tjukurpa. The exhibition is accompanied by newly commissioned writing by Dr Diana James (ANU).