At Cassandra Bird Gallery in Paris, Australian First Nations artist Sylvia Ken presents Land and Sky, her first solo exhibition in France and outside Australia. On view from October 17th, 2026 to January 16th, 2027, the series draws on the Seven Sisters story, weaving Anangu ancestral narratives with the landscapes of north-western South Australia and the stars above. The exhibition is supported by Australian fashion house ZIMMERMANN.
Tracing the Seven Sisters across land and sky
Raised in a remote community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Ken works within a cultural tradition connecting Country, ancestral law and the cosmos. The Seven Sisters story follows seven sisters pursued across the Country by Wati Nyiru. Guided by their eldest sister, they journey through rockholes, hills and creeks before ascending into the sky as the Pleiades.
Ken renders this ancestral journey through intricate dotted pathways, sweeping arcs and layered colour. Her marks evoke constellations while tracing sacred sites along the sisters’ route, intertwining earthly terrain with celestial patterns. The paintings transcend conventional landscape, merging ancestral memory and contemporary experience. Dotted patterns and layered colour connect Country, generations and the cosmos in Sylvia Ken’s paintings.
With works in major international collections, the acclaimed Australian First Nations artist received the Wynne Prize for landscape painting in 2019. Land and Sky marks her Paris debut, tracing Anangu ancestral narratives from the earth to the stars.
All images courtesy of SYLVIA KEN
Special thanks to LUCIEN PAGÈS COMMUNICATION
