Sally Scales: Atunmananyi munu Kanyini - Holding and Protecting Country

Atunmananyi munu Kanyini - Holding and Protecting Country honours the role of women in the continuation and evolution of cultural practices. Through vibrant paintings and pitis (coolamons) made from reclaimed road signs, her artworks connect her to the personal andintergenerational practices within Pitjantjatjara knowledge.

In Atunmananyi munu Kanyini – Holding and Protecting Country, Sally Scales honours the enduring role of women as cultural custodians. This powerful solo exhibition brings together vibrant paintings and sculptural pitis (coolamons) crafted from reclaimed road signs, grounding her practice in both innovation and tradition.

Drawing from Pitjantjatjara knowledge systems, Scales explores the ways cultural practices are held, protected, and passed on through generations of women. Her works are deeply personal, yet speak to broader intergenerational stories of care, resilience, and adaptation.

In reworking road signs, symbols of imposed structures, into objects of cultural significance, Scales asserts the strength and sovereignty of Anangu ways of knowing and being. Atunmananyi munu Kanyini is a celebration of cultural continuity, and a call to listen closely to the women who carry Country forward.

'We grew up knowing we had to use our voices for our families and communities. It's go time.'

A proud Pitjantjatjara woman from far west of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in remote South Australia, Sally Scales creates vibrant landscapes that represent her ancestral home and tjukurpa. Her unique aesthetic combines elements of the artistic styles of her two grandmothers, Kuntjiriya Mick and Kunmanara (Wawiriya) Burton, and her mother, Josephine Mick.

In addition to her studio practice, Sally plays an active leadership role in the Uluru Dialogue for the First Nations Voice to Parliament, is a board member of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, and a member of the National Gallery of Australia Council and Chair of its First Nations Advisory Group.⁠

A regular finalist in major art prizes, Sally won the People's Choice Award at the 2021 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and the Roberts Family Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2022. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) named Sally as one of the 100 women of the year in 2022.

On top of all of these commitments, Sally is foster mum to Walter.⁠

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Sally Scales: Atunmananyi munu Kanyini - Holding and Protecting Country: N.Smith Gallery

Atunmananyi munu Kanyini – Holding and Protecting Country

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