By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

From 1940-1960, the Australian government forced Aboriginal groups off their lands and into organized communities of the Central Desert region and along the northern coast. Papunya, located about 150 miles northwest of Alice Springs, was the final community established to collect these displaced groups, and where the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art movement began.

This exhibition is drawn out of a recent gift of Australian Aboriginal paintings to Grand Valley State University, created by artists from Papunya and the surrounding region. It features artwork that provides insight into Aboriginal life, retellings of important ancient stories and symbols, and the sacred sites of this vast and arid landscape.

• What: ‘Drawn from the Desert: Australian Aboriginal Paintings from the Central and Western Deserts’
  When: Exhibition on display through March 2
  Where: Kirkhof Center Gallery (main floor), Allendale Campus