Shifting Ground: Art by First Nations Women of Australia

The Arts Club London is proud to present Shifting Ground: Art by First Nations Women of Australia, the focal exhibition of its autumn programme, on view from 6 October 2025 to 24 January 2026. Shown in the Drawing Room and upper staircase, this timely exhibition celebrates the work of leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women artists, offering UK audiences a rare opportunity to engage with their vital and distinctive practices. At a moment when art history is being re-examined and expanded, the exhibition highlights artists whose contributions have long been overlooked, opening the canon to new voices and broader recognition.

Shifting Ground brings together works by some of the most significant contemporary Aboriginal women artists, including Emily Kam Kngwarray, currently the subject of a major retrospective at Tate Modern, alongside Sonia Kurarra, Eunice Napanangka Jack, Judy Watson, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili, Makinti Napanangka AM, Yukultji Napangati, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, and Lucky Kngwarreye Morton.

Spanning generations and regions, the exhibition showcases the extraordinary diversity of First Nations artmaking, from bold gestural compositions in synthetic polymer paint on linen to the delicate layered luminosity of pigment and ink. Key works include Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori’s My Country (2009), Yukultji Napangati’s Untitled (2012), and Emily Kam Kngwarray’s Body-Paint Lines (1995). These pieces embody deep connections to country and cultural knowledge while engaging with contemporary visual languages that shape the global discourse on abstraction and identity.

The exhibition is especially timely, aligning with a growing recognition of First Nations artists within the global art historical canon, marked by Emily Kam Kngwarray’s retrospective at Tate Modern and next year’s The Stars We Do Not See at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. In presenting these artists together in London, the exhibition underscores their rightful place in the global story of modern and contemporary art; a significant moment in the shift towards a more inclusive, representative canon.

Kuruyultu
Eunice Napanangka Jack
Synthetic polymer paint on linen
151 x 167 cm
2018

Mattuwarra
Sonia Kurarra
Synthetic polymer paint on linen
122 x 135 cm
2020

Mattuwarra
Sonia Kurarra
Synthetic polymer paint on linen
122 x 135 cm
2020

Baratjala
Noņgirrńa Marawili
Natural earth pigments on bark
201 x 84 cm
2019

Untitled
Emily Kam Kngwarray
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
151 x 90 cm
1992

Body-Paint Lines
Emily Kam Kngwarray
Synthetic polymer paint on linen
152 x 92 cm
1995

Untitled – Lupulnga
Makinti Napanangka Am
Synthetic polymer paint on linen
55 x 61 cm
2007

Untitled – Lupulnga 
Makinti Napanangka Am
Synthetic polymer paint on linen
61 X 55 cm
2004

Haze
Judy Watson
Pigment and ink on linen
193 x 88 cm
1999

Seeding the Clouds 1
Judy Watson
Pigment and ink on linen
195 x 89 cm
2006

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country)
Barbara Mbitjana Moore
Acrylic on linen
194 x 195.2 cm
2023

Ilyarnayt
Lucky Kngwarreye Morton
Acrylic on linen
138 x 90 cm
2024

My Father’s Country
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori
Acrylic on linen
121.92 x 91.44 cm
2007

My Country
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori
Acrylic on linen
122.24 x 91.76 cm
2009

Untitled
Yukultji Napangati
Acrylic on linen
153 x 122 cm
2019

My Country
Sally Gabori
Acrylic on canvas
91 x 137 cm
2006

The Arts Club is grateful to the artists, lenders and gallery teams for their generosity and collaboration on this exhibition. The show is curated by Amelie von Wedel and Pernilla Holmes of Wedel Art.

Staircase & Reception Display
Installation courtesy of Gander & White.

For all enquiries, please contact: Wedel Art at email@wedelart.com