The National Portrait Gallery
The Illumination
Queens of the Desert by Kaylene Whiskey
Yankunytjatjara artist Kaylene Whiskey presents her animated projection for Enlighten 2026: Queens of the Desert. This animation will transport you into Whiskey’s world and into the heart of the Australian desert landscape of the artist’s hometown of Indulkana on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Jump aboard her party bus on a road trip across Country to meet heroic kungka kuṉpu (strong women). Whiskey’s work celebrates First Nations joy and strength through storytelling that profiles connection, community and care for Country.
Super Kaylene Whiskey, the artist’s first major solo exhibition, opened at the National Portrait Gallery in November 2025. Made in collaboration with Studio Gilay, Queens of the Desert will bring Whiskey’s paintings to life on the façade of the National Portrait Gallery building.
The Artist
Born in 1976 in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, Kaylene Whiskey is a Yankunytjatjara artist who lives and works in the Indulkana Community on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the remote northwest of South Australia. Whiskey works out of Iwantja Arts, an Indigenous owned and governed Aboriginal art centre in Indulkana.
Whiskey’s comic-strip style paintings and joyous video works intertwine pop and Aṉangu culture and often feature recurring cameos of kungka kuṉpu (strong women) such as Wonder Woman, Tina Turner, Cher and Dolly Parton. It’s a world where local plants and Coca Cola comingle, where Whiskey and her idols hunt and collect bush tucker, and every scene is composed to soundtracks of classic rock, pop and country music. Presented with irreverent humour, Whiskey’s richly layered works are both playful and an empowering insight into contemporary Indigenous life.
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