APYACC: Friends in high places

If there's a truly baffling exhibition being held in Australia's public galleries this year, it's Ngura Pulka – Epic Country at the National Gallery of Australia. The show by artists from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Art Centre Collective (APYACC) was originally scheduled for June 2023 but put on ice by one of the biggest controversies ever to hit the Aboriginal Arts industry – a sector that is no stranger to scandal. After so much negative publicity it's hard to know why the NGA would want to revive a project that still has the potential to inflict damage on the gallery's reputation and throw a spotlight on some powerful people who would prefer to remain out of sight. Ngura Pulka is tucked away in a corner of the Indigenous galleries and has no prospect of drawing a big audience to Canberra.

One journalist quipped to me they had never known a show with such a low-key press campaign. According to Rosemary Neill in The Australian, NGA director "Dr" Nick Mitzevich refused to speak to the media or have his photo taken by the newspaper's photographer at the opening.

The Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, an outspoken fan of Mitzevich, was conspicuous by her absence, as was Arts Minister Tony Burke and the federal member for Canberra, Alicia Payne.