Wangka Walytja: The Life and Times of the Papunya Literature Production Centre

Wangka Walytja is an exhibition celebrating the rich legacy of the Papunya Literature Production Centre. Between 1979 and 1990, a collective of writers and artists, literacy workers and elders from Papunya produced hundreds of beautifully illustrated books in Pintupi-Luritja as part of the school’s bilingual program. This exhibition will showcase original drawings, storybooks, community newsletters, handwritten manuscripts, photographs, and audio-recordings from the archive alongside new animations of selected books, talking books, and a documentary where creators and their descendants reflect on this pivotal period in history.

Papunya's first literate generation accomplished the revolutionary transposition of an oral tradition of storytelling into the medium of alphabetic literacy and representational imagery. Hundreds of books were created in an upwelling of creativity and collective intellectual endeavour entirely comparable with their parents' contemporaneous painting movement, for which Papunya is internationally famous. Papunya's writers and illustrators documented their community's history, culture, and everyday life for subsequent generations with at times brutal honesty, producing the first Pintupi-Luritja literature.

“We learnt from the old people – the artists doing the dot paintings back then – and we thought, ‘Oh we’ll do a bit different than that one. We’ll draw a picture.’ That’s how we came to put the books out.” - Douglas Multa 

“It was really wonderful how they illustrated all those traditional cultural stories with such fantastic authenticity and creativity. And we focused on the collecting and recording process of the stories and the transcriptions. So that was our working life.” - Charlotte Phillipus 

“We created all these books together with the old people in Papunya, many of whom have now passed on, those dear things. We devoted a great many years to this work – more than ten years – a lifetime.” - Dennis Kulata Nelson 

“We really did some significant work there.” - Priscilla Brown 

Artback NT is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body and Proudly Sponsored by Arts NT. This exhibition has been made possible by Arts NT - Arts Projects and CBF - Minor Community Grants funding through Northern Territory Government.

Wangka Walytja is a collaboration between the University of Queensland and Papunya Tjupi Arts, funded by the Australian Research Council, Creative Australia, and the Regional Arts Fund.