Puuni Brown Nungarrayi: Kapi Tjukurrpa

COMA is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Indigenous Australian artist Puuni Brown Nungarrayi (b. 1979), titled Kapi Tjukurrpa, on view 12 April – 18 May, 2024. This is the artist’s first solo presentation with COMA and is taking place at our Chippendale location on Gadigal land, 2/27-39 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale, NSW, 2008. 

Nungarrayi is of the Luritja language group and grew up watching her mother and prominent Western Desert artist, Isobel Gorey, paint. Reinventing and reimagining her mother’s Kapi Tjukurrpa (Water Dreaming), she has crafted a visual language distinctly her own, cultivating and nurturing one of the most significant art movements in Australian history.

Kapi Tjukurrpa (Water Dreaming) is a knowledge form passed down through generations, telling stories of water sources; a billabong, watering hole, stream or river – how to find them, replenish them and sustain them. Circular forms and motifs to represent these different forms of water have become a constant within Papunya painting, reoccurring again and again to emphasise the necessity and importance of water to sustain and nurture life amongst the dry red desert. In a broader sense the concentric circles allude, both directly and indirectly, to an all encompassing life cycle – everything is eternal.