SYLVIA KANYTJUPAI KEN

Painting from the Amata community within the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia, her work focuses intensely on the sacred ancestral narratives of her region. She has presented major solo exhibitions and landmark group showcases across Australia, Europe, and Asia, including Nothing Too Beautiful for the Gods at Fondation Opale, Switzerland (2025); and the Bangkok Art Biennale (2022). Her work has also featured prominently in major institutional surveys at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and via international viewing spaces like Art Basel. As a vital figure at the renowned Tjala Arts center, her expressive style consistently engages with Tjukurpa (Creation stories), cultural preservation, and the enduring connection between ancestral lore and the natural landscape.

Ken’s work extends beyond individual practice into collective projects that have solidified her global reputation. Working alongside her family, she has created vast, immersive canvases that track the sacred Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters) story, mapping the physical and celestial pathways of the Pleiades and Orion constellations across earth and sky. Notable collaborative presentations include the Ken Sisters Collaborative projects, which have been showcased in commercial and institutional spaces nationwide. Characterised by vibrant color palettes, these large-scale linen works explore the poetics of place through natural topography, rendering rock holes, water sources, and ancient geological terrains.

Sylvia Ken’s achievements have been recognised through some of Australia’s most prestigious national art honours, prizes, and fellowships; winning the celebrated Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2019 for her solo masterpiece Seven Sisters, following a previous landmark collective win with the Ken Sisters Collaborative in 2016. She has been a recurring finalist in the Wynne Prize across multiple years (2025, 2021, 2018) as well as a repeat finalist in the highly competitive Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) and the Hadley’s Art Prize (2019).

Her work is held in major public, institutional, and private collections worldwide. Nationally, her paintings have been acquired by major public galleries, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, and the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, alongside foundational public resources like Artbank. Internationally, her pieces are represented in significant private and institutional collections across Europe and Asia, including the Brocard-Estrangin Collection and the Lagerberg Swift Collection.