Kaylene Whiskey's silver sneakers gleam so brightly they make light dance around her as she stands in the National Portrait Gallery, wearing one of her signature sweaters and sparkling Christmas earrings. The boldly joyful Yankunytjatjara artist has brought a party atmosphere to the gallery for the launch of "Super Kaylene Whiskey," a showcase exhibition that explodes with celebration rather than hushed, white-walled reverence. The show bursts with big colors, big mischief, and big joy, demanding its own soundtrack of Cher, ABBA, David Bowie, Boney M, and of course, Dolly Parton – always and forever Dolly.
Whiskey's life and artistic practice are deeply rooted in Indulkana, located in the heart of the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. As a senior force within Iwantja Arts, the desert studio that has nurtured renowned artists like Vincent Namatjira, Betty Muffler, and Tiger Yaltangki, she follows in her family's artistic footsteps – both her mother and grandfather were artists. For decades, Whiskey has been painting the pop culture icons she grew up with in the 1980s and early 1990s: heroes from drive-in movies, music videos, and comic books, from Mad Max to Monkey Magic.
What makes Whiskey's work revolutionary is her approach to these cultural icons. Rather than stepping into their worlds, she brings them into hers. "When I'm listening to music with my friends I might think: what if Dolly Parton and Tina Turner came and joined our party here in Indulkana?" Whiskey explains. "In my paintings I can make that happen!" Her idols are depicted kicking footballs, picking bush tomatoes, and searching for opals in the rock piles of Coober Pedy, seamlessly integrated into the Kungkarangkalpa Tjukurpa (the Seven Sisters songline) as naturally as old friends.
The exhibition begins dramatically in front of a giant television set – an old-school 1980s dial box that serves as a portal from Canberra to Indulkana. Inside the TV screen is Whiskey's living room, while her heroes have burst out of the screen into the gallery space at life-size scale. Wonder Woman soars overhead, Tina Turner swaggers confidently, Catwoman slinks through the space, and Dolly strums her guitar. This opening move perfectly establishes the exhibition's central theme: Whiskey's heroes breaking free from their traditional confines into her world.
Curator April Phillips describes the exhibition as "Kaylene's world, her universe," noting the many layers of intention in the work. "This universe is decidedly cinematic: Whiskey is the director, the scriptwriter, the set dresser, the costume designer – and a joyful, irresistible star," Phillips explains. The paintings feel like freeze-frames in constant flux, with people shifting and stories moving, creating a sense that "something has happened, and about to happen."
The gallery space transforms into what feels like the technicolor riot of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, where the whole world has gone vividly and impossibly alive. Lollipops and love hearts tumble alongside plates of bush tucker – ripe quandongs and mingkulpa (bush tobacco). Gardens bloom and bear fruit under the vast blue of Sky Country, while honey ants patrol the borders of paintings with their abdomens heavy with syrup. There's enough Diet Coke for everyone, Christmas stockings overflow with gifts, and Michael Jackson dances with a water snake, making it rain.
"Everything's strong and healthy in Kaylene's world," Phillips observes. "Country is healthy and thriving and abundant. Love is abundant." This abundance serves as the exhibition's watchword and central argument: portraits can be as full as the lives they honor. Nobody appears alone in a Whiskey portrait – they arrive with company including animals, friends, food, objects, stories, and music, all the elements that make a life complete.
The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a major new work for the exhibition: a Cathy Freeman triptych that presents an exultant victory sequence. Whiskey doesn't simply honor the Olympic champion but elevates her to superhero status, with the Aboriginal flag serving as her cape as she runs so fast her feet have left the ground. However, the most striking piece may be Whiskey's canon-busting interpretation of Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus," where her goddess is an Aṉangu girl – not objectified by men but held up, witnessed, and supported by extraordinary women in a powerful statement of rebirth and reclamation.
Whiskey's world overflows with Kungka Kuṉpu (strong women) who are actively engaged in life as entrepreneurs, gardeners, nurturers, and problem-solvers. They drive cars, make money, win medals, tend to Country, grow food, surf impossible waves, and stare down sharks while making art and music. Crucially, they're never pitted against each other – there's no competition, scarcity, or hierarchy, just women getting on with the work of living well and holding the world together.
Phillips emphasizes that Whiskey's portraits are anchored in self-determination and thrum joyfully with agency. "Kaylene's in charge," she states. "She's in charge of her image. She's in charge of who's taking the portrait, who's creating the story." While the artist herself doesn't say much during tours, preferring to let her paintings speak for themselves, she clearly revels in the vicarious joy of watching people fall into her lush and generous world.
The exhibition concludes with a video installation showing Whiskey airborne with arms outstretched and legs kicking, soaring to the sound of Parton's "Jolene" with a cape streaming behind her, every inch a superhero. When nudged about her flight, she grins at the screen and simply says, "Yep, I'm flying." "Super Kaylene Whiskey" runs at the National Portrait Gallery until March 9, 2026, offering visitors an unprecedented journey into an artist's universe where pop culture and Indigenous storytelling merge in joyful celebration.
