Papunya Tjupi Arts is a 100% Aboriginal owned and directed community arts organisation based in Papunya, the birthplace of the Western Desert painting movement. The artists of Papunya Tjupi have established their own unique identity based on the legacy of their forefathers. The Art Centre, located 250km NW of Alice Springs/Mparntwe, supports emerging artists and some of Australia’s leading contemporary painters.
It was established in 2007, in response to the vacuum following the homelands movement of the late 1970s, which saw the exodus of many of the famous pioneer painters. Papunya Tjupi currently consists of 150 artists from Papunya and surrounding outstations, who are renowned for their strong line-work and for continuously developing new ways to tell the old stories.
Central to Papunya Tjupi is the understanding that painting is an important part of culture and connection to country, and that the teaching and passing of knowledge is what keeps the community’s future strong. Papunya Tjupi’s artists exhibit fine art paintings nationally and internationally and feature in major public and private collections.
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