Frank Young & The Kulata Tjuta Project
Born & Lives in:
Australia (Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands)
Established:
2016, Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Australia
Location
- Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Kulata Tjuta (Many Spears) Project is a series of major installation-based works rooted in age-old traditions, knowledge and skills that are designed around keeping Country and culture strong. It is an ongoing cultural maintenance project that shares the skills of spear making across generations. Under the direction of male Elders including Frank Young, young men are taught the skills of carving and kulata (spear) production as a means of cultural maintenance. It has since grown to include over 200 Aṉangu men from three generations across the APY Lands in South Australia. The artistic outcomes take the form of large-scale, multi-disciplinary installations which incorporate film, sound and live performance.
Frank Young is a Senior Pitjantjatjara man and has held leadership positions across the APY Lands; currently he is a director of Tjala Arts and the APY Art Centre Collective. As a young man, he worked with senior men during the 1970s Land Rights Movement on the APY Lands. Young has worked on the Kulata Tjuta Project since its inception in 2010. As a painter, he depicts the story of the Kulata, incorporating Pitjantjatjara text in his work, recounting the Tjukurpa (cultural stories) of the spears along with methods of crafting kulata.
Frank Young and The Kulata Tjuta Project, Kulata Tjuta: Rurrkuni, 2025. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. Courtesy of the artists and APY Art Centre Collective © Frank Young and The Kulata Tjuta Project. Installation view, 25th Biennale of Sydney, Rememory, 2026, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Felicity Jenkins.
Yaritji Young, Ngayuku tjukurpa – kungka yuu tjala tjukurpa (My Story – women’s honey ant story), 2025. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney. Courtesy of the artist, APY Art Centre Collective and Weld Stories © Yaritji Young. Installation view, 25th Biennale of Sydney, Rememory, 2026, AGNSW. Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Felicity Jenkins.
Frank Young
Born 1949, near Artuti, Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Australia Lives and works in Amata, APY Lands Pitjantjatjara, Southern Desert region
Kulata Tjukurpa I–III 2025
synthetic polymer paint on linen
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous support from the South Australian Government through CreateSA
Courtesy of the artist and Tjala Arts
Frank Young is a senior Pitjantjatjara man and founding member of the Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa or ‘Many Spears’ project, dedicating much of his life and knowledge to the activation and sharing of this cultural practice. As a painter, he depicts the story of the kuḻaṯa (spear), incorporating Pitjantjatjara text in his work to recount the tjukurpa (cultural stories and law) of the spears, along with the methods of crafting kuḻaṯa. Bold text and broad paint strokes collide to create a series of works depicting the natural components and history of the spear.
Presented alongside the Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa installation, Young’s paintings pay homage to the culture and community that have supported him and his countrymen in continuing this important cultural practice. The works celebrate both the legacy of Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa’s founders and the respectful holding of kuḻaṯa as a cultural tool and a means of cultural continuation.
Kulata Tjuta (Many Spears) 2025
single-channel video, sound 5:24 min
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
Courtesy of the artist, APY Art Centre Collective and Weld Stories
Frank Young is a senior Pitjantjatjara man and founding member of the Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa or ‘Many Spears’ project. He has dedicated much of his life to sharing the skills and knowledge of spear making across generations, helping to maintain this important cultural practice. A major new installation by Young with men from across the Aṉangu
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in far north-west of South Australia is on display in the adjacent gallery space as part of the 25th Biennale of Sydney.
In this video, Young reflects on the history of Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa, its past sculptural installations and his new work, Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa: Rurrkuni 2025.
Kulata Tjuta
Founded 2010, Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Australia Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara peoples
Kulata Tjuta: Rurrkuni 2025
mulga, spearwood, mulga resin, kangaroo sinew Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
Courtesy of the artist and APY Art Centre Collective
The Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa (‘Many Spears’) project is an ongoing series of large-scale installations created by Pitjantjatjara Elder Frank Young with men from across the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in far north-west of South Australia. Each installation incorporates wooden spears carved by Aṉangu men who span several generations.
Since beginning in 2010, the project has grown to include over 200 participants, demonstrating the importance to the community of passing down ancestral knowledge and skills to younger generations.
This iteration consists of 1500 spears and was inspired by an experience Young and his peers once witnessed: a battle where ‘spears moved like a dark cloud across Country’. Here, the spears are a reminder of a different kind of battle – the ongoing fight for sovereignty.