Newly represented by Sullivan+Strumpf with Wik & Kugu Arts Centre, Aurukun, Alair Pambegan emerges as a vital and powerful voice in contemporary Australian art. Please join us to celebrate his Sullivan+Strumpf solo exhibition debut, on view at their Gadigal/ Sydney gallery from Thursday 29 January to Saturday 21 February 2026. Everyone’s welcome at the joint opening celebration to be held on Saturday January 31 from 3 – 5pm, for both Pambegan’s exhibition and that of Marrnyula Munuŋgurr.

Pambegan’s Sullivan+Strumpf exhibition coincides with the fifth National Indigenous Art Triennial, After the rain, for which he has created a major commission, his most ambitious work to date.

Alair Pambegan is a Wik-Mungkan artist from Aurukun, on the western Cape York Peninsula in North Queensland. He is the son of the late Arthur Koo’ekka Pambegan Jr a respected elder, lawman and artist (1936–2010), and continues his father’s custodianship of Kalben-aw (Flying Fox Story Place) and Walkaln-aw (Bonefish Story Place), two significant ancestral narratives and story places along the Archer and Watson Rivers that flow into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Pambegan’s debut exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf will showcase an immersive series of 14 striking abstract paintings, created with the distinctive red, white, and black ochres from his Country in the Cape York Peninsula. These powerful new works bridge ancestral knowledge and the contemporary moment.

This solo presentation is timed to coincide with the fifth National Indigenous Art Triennial, After the rain, which features a major commission by the artist of over 500 suspended flying foxes, Pambegan’s most ambitious work to date. His inclusion in this landmark exhibition marks a significant development in his practice and growing recognition of his distinctive artistic voice.

After the rain is on now at the National Gallery of Australia, until 26 April 2026.

Pambegan’s work has been exhibited extensively and is represented in major public collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia; and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia.