Sylvia Ken (b0rn 1965) is a senior artist from Amata community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands and has worked at Tjala Arts since 1999. Her practice centres on the Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters) Tjukurpa – one of the most significant cultural narratives of the region. As a Traditional Owner for key sites connected to this story, Ken paints both the ancestral journey of the sisters and the expansive desert landscapes through which they travelled.

Her compositions map shifting tracks across Country, tracing the movement of ancestral figures and the events that shape the story. Built up through intricate, rhythmic mark-making, her surfaces are animated by fine dotting and layered patterning that evoke the topography of the desert – its sandhills, rock formations, and ceremonial sites. Ken often works with a vibrant yet earthy palette, balancing saturated pinks, reds, and purples with deep tones, creating a sense of movement and depth across the canvas. The narrative connects the constellations of the Pleiades and Orion: the sisters are embodied in the Pleiades, while Orion represents Wati Nyiru (also known as Nyirunya), a persistent pursuer who chases the sisters across sky and earth. As the story unfolds, the sisters repeatedly evade him through wit and resilience, travelling between celestial and terrestrial realms. Though at times one sister is captured, she ultimately escapes with the help of the others, and together they return to the sky, reforming their constellation.

“I paint my family’s side of the Country, where the sisters travelled through Cave Hill and Alkanyuṉta, all the way through to Kuḻi. My right to paint this area is established. This is Tjukurpa mulapa – an important and true story. I listen to the old people’s stories, and I think about these stories, and then ideas come for my paintings. I listen to my mother and father, to my grandmother and grandfather. I listen when they are talking about Tjukurpa and telling creation stories and when they say to me ‘No, you should paint this way, the Seven Sisters’.” — Sylvia Ken

Ken’s work is held in major public and private collections in Australia and internationally, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, and QAGOMA, as well as the Brocard-Estrangin, Lagerberg Swift, Richard and Harriette England, and Marshall collections. She has been a finalist in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (2013, 2014, 2018), and a multiple-time finalist in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2018, 2021, 2025), winning the prize in 2019.