D Lan Galleries is proud to return to Sydney Contemporary with a presentation of works by some of Australia's most significant First Nations artists. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a dynamic group of paintings by the late Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray (c.1910–1996). Recently the focus of major retrospective exhibitions in Canberra, London and Switzerland, Kngwarray continues to break new ground for Australian artists internationally. Fresh from the remarkable success of the Art Gallery of New South Wales' blockbuster exhibition <i>Yolŋu Power</i>, Yolŋu artists Gunybi Ganambarr and Noŋgirrŋa Marawili (c.1939–2023) are represented by a series of outstanding works on bark and metal. Gunybi's monumental Spring Water Running Through Reeds (2024) features his sacred miny'tji (designs) cut into a large sheet of reclaimed aluminum. The booth also features works by the late Pitjantjatjara artist Tiger Palpatja (c.1920–2012), whose paintings vibrantly depict his ancestral Country. Palpatja's works, from his estate, will be exhibited in Australia for the first time. Ngaanyatjarra artist Cliff Reid (c.1947–2010) will be represented by two compositions drawn from men's ceremonial designs. Also on display are two striking collaborative works by the Spinifex artists of Western Australia's Great Victoria Desert, painted by some of Tjuntjuntjara's most famous male artists — Simon Hogan, Lawrence Pennington, Fred Grant, Ned Grant and Roy Underwood. A small, rare group of paintings and works on paper by the late Gija artist and lawman Paddy Nyunkuny Bedford (c.1922–2007) will also form part of our presentation.

D Lan Galleries is honoured to present Timothy Cook’s first international exhibition — in collaboration with Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association — and a new body of bark paintings and works on linen to our Upper East Side gallery. Widely regarded as the modern master of Tiwi painting, Cook works exclusively with ochres and oxides drawn from the geological make-up of his Country surrounding Milikapiti on Melville Island, ground and prepared before being applied in bold, sumptuous fields of colour to seasoned stringybark — itself harvested and prepared communally at Jilamara. The result is painting that is inseparable from Country, its seasons, and the Tiwi identity. Whether working beneath the downpours of the wet season or the heat of the dry, Cook's practice is rooted in the living landscape of the Tiwi Islands.

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).