Ngununggula, the Southern Highlands regional art gallery, has announced further details for Old Days, New Days | Arlta-imankinya, Arlta-errama, a major new all-women exhibition bringing together artists from Tangentyere and Yarrenyty Arltere alongside celebrated Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist Thea Anamara Perkins.
On view from 18 April - 14 June 2026, the exhibition explores the vital role women play within family and community life across generations.
Featuring existing and newly commissioned paintings, sculptures, video works, textiles, and works on paper, Old Days, New Days celebrates the daily contributions women make to their communities, through acts of gathering, care, and storytelling that are both deeply personal and collectively sustaining.
Old Days, New Days continues what Ngununggula describes as its "annual commitment to celebrating the work of Australian women artists through the Artist's Circle, a collective of female donors committed to enhancing the visibility and recognition of women artists in Australia".
Inaugurated in 2022 with Kungka Kunpu, a touring exhibition from the Art Gallery of South Australia showcasing collection works by senior female artists from the APY Lands, the initiative has since presented once more with feeling (2023), Together Again (2024), and Tender (2025).
Central to the exhibition is the strength of relationships, between artists, families, and communities, and between the organisations that support their work. The collaboration between Tangentyere Artists, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, and Thea Anamara Perkins highlights a shared commitment to storytelling and representation, as well as the importance of creating spaces where these stories can be told on the artists' own terms, and new conversations and collaborations can emerge.
Old Days, New Days also celebrates collective making. Many works reflect practices that are inherently communal - gathering, weaving, painting, and storytelling undertaken together - reinforcing bonds and sustaining knowledge systems. The exhibition invites audiences to consider art not only as an object, but as an ongoing process shaped by relationships, care, and exchange.
Highlights in the exhibition include Thea Anamara Perkins' significant series of portraits of the Tangentyere Artists, from The Slattery Collection offering an intimate and powerful account of senior figurative painters and their practice, as well as an immersive installation by Marjorie Williams, bringing to life her latest illustrated children's book and inviting audiences into her world of storytelling and community knowledge.
Exhibiting artists include Grace Kemarre Robinya, Kumanara (Doris) Thomas, Sally M. Nangala Mulda, Betty Conway, Rhonda Sharpe, Marjorie 'Nunga' Williams, Marlene Rubuntja, Mrs. T Inkamala, Roxanne Petrick, Louise Robertson, Kumanara (Nyinta) Donald PeiPei, Kumantjayi (Joanne) Napangardi Wheeler and Thea Anamara Perkins.
