[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 16, 2026] Many of the most famous artists in the Kluge-Ruhe collection are women, and their work is being highlighted in a stunning new exhibition titled Color is Life: Women’s Work Today, which opens in the Main Galleries at Kluge-Ruhe on March 28. In the Focus Gallery, the exhibition Ngiya Murrakupupuni amintiya Jilamara (My Country and Art) by acclaimed Tiwi artist and curator Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni is on view through June 26.
Color is Life: Women’s Work Today is a celebration of artwork by First Nations Australian women artists from the last thirty years. The exhibition highlights fiberwork, prints, sculpture, and paintings in the Kluge-Ruhe collection by leading senior artists Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Lena Yarinkura, Ms N Marawili, Bugai Whyoulter, Yulyurlu Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Jenni Kemarre Martiniello, Kathleen Petyarre, Emily Kam Kngwarray, and others.
Two collaborative works—a film featuring twelve Kunwinjku artists from Injalak Art Centre and a hand-dyed and screenprinted fabric made by five Luritja/Western Arrernte artists from Yarrenyty Arltere Artists—speak to the many ways women work together to care for their families and ancestral homelands, or Country, in what artist Marlene Rubuntja described as “a good and happy way.”
The women artists in this exhibition come from diverse geographical areas across Australia and make their work using a myriad of mediums, evoking the fertile waterways, thriving desert ecosystems and important stories held within their ancestral homelands. As they continue to innovate in their chosen mediums, the artists pass deep cultural knowledge down to their children and grandchildren. Artmaking is its own life force, and as the late Tiwi artist Jean Baptiste Apuatimi said, “Painting makes me alive.”
For Ngiya Murrakupupuni amintiya Jilamara (My Country and Art), acclaimed Tiwi artist and curator Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni selected historical artworks from the Kluge-Ruhe collection to show alongside her new work, including fiberwork, paintings, and sculpture. Woody explains, “It is important for us to look back and move forward together, tell that story and learn from each other.”
Woody is undertaking an artist residency at Kluge-Ruhe March 28–April 11, with a welcome reception scheduled for Thursday, April 2, 5–7 pm. A public tour of the exhibition, and a workshop teaching participants about how the artist crafts paint from natural ochre, will take place on April 4, at 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm, respectively. Throughout the run of Color is Life: Women’s Work Today (March 28, 2026–March 14, 2027) Kluge-Ruhe will stage four more exhibitions and host two additional artists residencies highlighting First Nations Australian women artists. These include an exhibition of prints by women artists from Ikuntji Artists; a solo exhibition and artist residency of Sonja Carmichael (Quandamooka); a solo exhibition and artist residency of Jenna Lee (Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman, and KarraJarri); and an exhibition of the Seven Sisters print suite by women artists from Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre.
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Contact for media inquiries: Laura Snyder: ljs7f@virginia.edu
Header image: BUGAI WHYOULTER (b.1939, Kartujarra), Wantili, 2014, acrylic on linen, 61 3/8 x 61 3/8 in. (155.89 x 155.89 cm). Gift of Agatha and Stephen Luczo, 2017, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, 2017.0006.015. Courtesy of the artist and Martumili Artists.