Josina Pumani

Josina Pumani is a contemporary artist from the APY Lands (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) in South Australia. She is part of a lineage of artists who share cultural knowledge through painting, continuing traditions while developing a distinctive personal style. Pumani’s work often features bold colour, rhythmic mark-making, and symbolic forms that reference Country, kinship, and Tjukurpa (Ancestral Law and stories). Her practice reflects the strength

A woman works on a ceramic pot in an art studio. — Josina Pumani using the coil method to make a ceramic vessel in the APY studio in Tarntanya (Adelaide), 2025; photo: Andy Francis

My work is about atomic bomb tests. The smoke from the bomb travelled across Maralinga and Emu Fields to the APY Lands. My tjamu (grandfather) heard a bang four times and he thought ‘maybe it is the wanampi (watersnake) eating people?’ – ngalta, he didn’t know. But it was the bomb. Then he saw the black smoke, and everything went dark – the water, punu (trees) and sky. I tell this story through my workbecause it’s important for everyone all over Australia to know this story. - Josina Pumani

Josina Pumani’s ceramic vessels mimic black plumes of atomic clouds, while their red interiors represent the blazing temperature of the blasts. Working with her hands, Pumani sculpts into being the rarely told histories of the nuclear testing conducted, without consent, by the British Government on Aboriginal land in South Australia between 1956 and 1963. The temperature of the nuclear explosion’s fireball at Maralinga is said to have reached more than 5000 degrees celsius – as hot as the surface of the sun. Hot enough to turn sand into glass. Josina’s vessels are fired at 1200 degrees. Hot enough to transform the soft clay into a hard-solid material and solidify history, scorching it into consciousness.

Text by Gloria Strzelecki, Yield Strength Catalogue

Themes and Ideas

Country and Connection: Pumani’s paintings map Country and express deep relationships to land and community.
Tjukurpa (Ancestral Law): Her works embed stories passed down through generations, maintaining cultural knowledge.
Colour and Composition: Vibrant palettes and layered patterns create dynamic visual narratives.
Intergenerational Practice: Pumani works alongside family members, highlighting the importance of shared knowledge.

Locate the APY Lands (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) on a map of Australia. How far away is this place from where you live or go to school? What is the environment like here? What flora and fauna are endemic to this place?
What is Tjukurpa, and why is it central to Pumani’s work?
How do colour and pattern create meaning in Pumani’s ceramics?
Why is collaboration and family significant parts of Pumani’s practice?
Why is it important to pass on knowledge from old to young? Do you have a family tradition which has been passed on from one generation to the next? Write a short story about a special tradition in your family.
Why do you think Pumani has decided to use this colour palette on her vessels?
Using the Civics and Citizenship concept wheel, identify which concepts are predominate in this work by Pumani?
Write a poem in response to the Maralinga bomb testing. You may like incorporate references to Pumani’s work in your text.

Josina Pumani, Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia, Maralinga, 2024, underglaze and sgraffito on clay, 44.0 × 34.0 cm; Courtesy of the artist and APY Art Centre Collective; photo: Andy Francis, courtesy of the APYACC.

Atomic bomb testing was carried out at Emu Junction and Maralinga between 1953 and 1963 and the resulting ‘black mist’, which caused illness and death for many Anangu. Often these tests took place without the permission of Aboriginal custodians of this country and had devastating effects on both the people and the environment.

Compare Pumani’s work to that of Kulata Tjuta and Thunder Raining Poison by Yhonnie Scarce. Each of these works respond to the atomic bomb testing that occurred at Maralinga. How has each artist communicated this event through their works of art?
Investigate the atomic bomb testing that occurred in South Australia between 1953 and 1963. List the specific consequences this testing had on the environment and the people.

Create a painting that represents a place important to you using shapes and patterns that you connect with that place.
Work in pairs or groups to produce a collaborative painting that combines individual symbols into a collective narrative.
Create a work of art that responds to a significant event in Australia’s history.
Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have long used and continue to use symbols in their art making to communicate stories and traditions.
- Think of a memorable moment in your life.
- Create your own set of symbols to illustrate this narrative. Challenge yourself to design pictograms that are suggestive of objects or actions. Repeat these designs to create interesting patterns. Your story may only be able to be read by you!
- Tip: For early years students, you might like to experiment with making these marks into plastisine, clay, play dough or sand.