This April, a selection of works from the Slattery Collection have temporarily left our Sydney office to be shared with a wider public audience at Ngununggula, Southern Highlands Regional Gallery.
For more than 15 years, Slattery has thoughtfully built its art collection through the commissioning and curation of works by Australian artists whose practices are grounded in diverse cultural connections, lived experience and contemporary Australian storytelling. The Slattery Collection has been shaped not as a backdrop to the workplace, but as an evolving body of work formed through relationships with artists and arts centres.
Many of the works now on loan were commissioned specifically for the Slattery collection and developed through close collaboration with artists.
L-R Grace Kemarre Robinya and Sally M. Mulda pictured with Sarah Slattery.
Visiting the exhibition
Old Days, New Days | Arlta‑imankinya, Arlta‑errama is on view at Ngununggula, Southern Highlands Regional Gallery, Bowral, from 18 April to 14 June 2026.
From Mparntwe to Warrang
The works presented at Ngununggula have their beginnings in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). In developing the Slattery Collection in Warrang (Sydney), Slattery engaged curator Barbara Flynn, who made an introduction to Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist Thea Anamara Perkins. Slattery commissioned Perkins to create a series of portraits of Tangentyere artists.
Developed through multiple visits to Mparntwe, the portraits depict the women in moments of painting, reflection and conversation. During this period, Sarah Slattery and Barbara Flynn travelled to Mparntwe, spending time with Perkins and the Tangentyere artists while they worked on Country.
Following this shared time, works by Tangentyere artists – Betty Nungarrayi Conway, Sally M. Nangala Mulda, Nyinta Donald PeiPei, Grace Kemarre Robinya and Doris Thomas – were selected for the Warrang Collection. This approach reflects Slattery’s continued commissioning practice, grounded in relationships and understanding rather than the acquisition of individual works.
Installed alongside the artists’ works in Slattery’s Sydney office, Perkins’s portraits bring the people behind the works into focus.
Over time, the Slattery Collection has become a living reflection of our commitment to reconciliation, built through enduring partnerships and sustained involvement in the Reconciliation Action Plan program.
From Warrang to Ngununggula
Now on view as part of Old Days, New Days | Arlta‑imankinya, Arlta‑errama, the loan marks a meaningful transition for these works, from an everyday working environment into a public gallery.
Presented as part of Ngununggula’s annual exhibition dedicated to showcasing the work of Australian women artists, Old Days, New Days brings together artists from Tangentyere and Yarrenyty Arltere alongside Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist Thea Anamara Perkins. The exhibition centres the vital role women play in family, community and cultural continuity, exploring themes of gathering, care, storytelling and collective making across generations.
Through painting, works on paper and portraiture, the exhibition speaks to the strength of relationships between artists, families and communities, and to the significance of art as a shared, lived practice rather than a static object. Encountered together in this public setting, the works carry with them the histories formed in Mparntwe and lived with at Warrang, now opened to wider audiences.
