Running from Friday August 7, 2020 to Sunday October 17, 2021 at GOMA, Kayili Car Bonnets focuses on the breathtaking artwork of the Kayili artists. Pulpurru Davies, Nola Campbell, Mary Gibson, Jackie Kurltjunyintja Giles and Ngipi Ward, were all among the last nomadic desert peoples forced into settler life. They now live in a small community at Patjarr, 1000 kilometres west of Alice Springs in the heartland of the Western Desert, a sandy landscape populated with cars in various stages of decay.

These artists breathe new life into these car bonnets, painting with an intensity that reflects their calling as tradition-bearers to constantly invent ways to record their culture and portray their desert world. They indulge their love of colour by animating these surfaces with shimmering, cryptic, topographical maps of their country, and the ancestral journeys that formed it.

So you don’t miss out on seeing Kayili Car Bonnets, QAGOMA is operating a free time-entry ticket system. QAG is currently open to a limited number of visitors from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm daily and GOMA will open to a limited number of visitors from Friday August 7. To book your free timed ticket to QAGOMA, head here – we suggest booking in advance so you don’t miss out!

Image one: Jackie Kurltjunyintja Giles, / Valiant 2007 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Jackie Kurltjunyintja Giles.
Image two: Nola Campbell, Australia / Holden 2007 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Nola Campbell.