The Places That Know Us is a major solo presentation of paintings by Mitjili Gibson Napanangka, marking the grand opening exhibition in Art Leven’s brand new three-storey gallery space in Woolloomooloo.
It is fitting that this new chapter begins with the work of Mitjili Gibson Napanangka. A senior Pintupi woman who came to painting late in life, Gibson drew on knowledge formed long before her first canvas, knowledge shaped by movement across Country, women’s Law, family responsibility, and lived experience in the Western Desert. Her paintings are not illustrative but authoritative: grounded in place, ceremony, and memory. They are works that speak through structure and rhythm over narrative.
The works included in The Places That Know Us trace key sites across Napanangka’s Country, including Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay), Wirnparrku, and Mina Mina. These are not distant or symbolic locations, but places known through responsibility. Colour and pattern register rain, movement, and ceremonial presence, holding Country as something active rather than remembered.
Established in 1981, Art Leven (formerly Cooee Art) has evolved over more than four decades in close dialogue with the artists and communities it represents. While the name, location, and scale have changed over time, our purpose has remained constant: to represent artists with integrity, presenting their work within a considered, respectful, and ambitious framework. The opening of our Woolloomooloo gallery signals a refinement of that commitment, a space shaped for focused exhibitions, deeper engagement, and sustained attention to artists’ practices and legacies.
As Art Leven enters this new space, The Places That Know Us reminds us that places are never neutral, they shape practice, memory, and responsibility. To open this gallery with Napanangka’s work is to acknowledge that renewal is grounded in continuity and knowledge – that every new beginning is carried by what came before.
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