NYU’s Grey Art Museum Brings Landmark Aboriginal Art Survey to New York
NYU’s Grey Art Museum is opening the first U.S. survey of Australia’s most iconic Aboriginal art movement, bringing more than 80 artists and about 120 works to Manhattan through April 11, 2026. The exhibition, Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert, traces 50 years of Papunya Tula Artists, Australia’s oldest Aboriginal-owned arts organization.
cm). Courtesy the Parker Foundation © Estate of the artist. Licensed by Aboriginal Artists
Agency Ltd. Photo: Tom Cogill
What’s on view
The show features paintings made between 1971 and 2021, including works by major artists such as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Makinti Napanangka, Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati, and Mantua Nangala. The exhibition is organized around geographic and social ties rather than by date, highlighting how styles and motifs evolved across generations.
Why it matters
Curators say the exhibition shows how Papunya Tula Artists helped shape contemporary Aboriginal art while asserting deep connections to Country, ancestral stories, and community self-determination. The project also builds on Grey Art Museum’s earlier presentation of Icons of the Desert in 2009.
Key works
Among the highlights are The Papunya Tula Fiftieth Anniversary Suite, a commission of 50 works by 50 contemporary artists, along with two notable paintings shown exclusively at Grey: Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula’s Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa (1972) and Michael Jagamara Nelson’s Five Stories (1984).
The exhibition opened January 22, 2026, at 18 Cooper Square and runs through April 11, 2026. It previously appeared at Brigham Young University Museum of Art and will later travel to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.
General Information:
Grey Art Museum, New York University
18 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003
Hours
Tuesday: 11 am–6 pm
Wednesday: 11 am–8 pm
Thursday: 11 am–6 pm
Friday: 11 am–6 pm
Saturday: 11 am–5 pm
Closed Sunday, Monday, and major holidays
Admission
Suggested donation: $5; free of charge to NYU students, faculty, and staff. Click here for more information.
Milwaukee Art Museum to Debut Widline Cadet’s First U.S. Solo Museum Show
The Milwaukee Art Museum will present the first U.S. museum solo exhibition by Haitian-born artist Widline Cadet this spring, spotlighting a haunting new body of work about migration, memory, and Black diasporic life. Currents 40: Widline Cadet opens May 8 and runs through August 9, 2026, at the museum’s Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts.
Exhibition focus
The show is the first full presentation of Cadet’s nearly decade-long project Seremoni Disparisyon (Ritual [Dis]Appearance), which uses photography, video, installation, and found imagery to explore absence, belonging, and family history. Cadet developed the work by photographing relatives and then turning the camera toward herself and others as access to family abroad became more limited.
Why it matters
Museum leaders say the exhibition builds on Milwaukee’s strong Haitian art collection while extending its commitment to contemporary artists shaping how diasporic histories are understood today. Curator Kristen Gaylord described Cadet’s work as deeply personal while also speaking to broader themes of community, distance, and loss.
What visitors will see
The installation places photographs alongside video and sculptural elements in unusual arrangements designed to break away from traditional gallery viewing. The museum says the effect is immersive, treating each image as part of a “living archive” rather than a static document.
Visiting details
The exhibition is included with museum admission, with Thursday nights pay-what-you-wish from 4 to 8 p.m. The museum also has scheduled talks and member events throughout the run of the show. Click here for more information.