“‘Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu’ is an invitation to dream”
Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert Exhibition Review
Washington Square News, February 27, 2026
by Mia Shou
For the Aboriginal people of Australia’s Western Desert, dreaming isn’t a trivial matter. Instead, it’s a lifestyle that takes center stage in the Grey Art Museum’s latest exhibition, “Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert.”
Opened on Jan. 22 and organized by the University of Virginia’s Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, the gallery covers the Grey’s walls in over 50 years of work from Papunya Tula Artists, Australia’s oldest Aboriginal-owned arts organization.