Much of the most exciting art emerging from the growing desert painting movement is now being produced by 'new' painting communities — some of the smallest and most isolated in Australia — that have only recently joined the larger movement. These include the Anangu, Ngaanyatyara, Pitjantjatjara and Yangkuntjatjara communities on the borders of South Australia and the Northern Territory, running into Western Australia; and art centres connected to the Canning Stock Route in Western Australia, including Martumili, Mangkaja and Bidyadanga.

These new acquisitions have been enabled by the generosity of Chair of the Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees, Professor John Hay, AC , and Mrs Barbara Hay, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. The works will be displayed alongside those from neighbouring art centres held in the Collection. These art communities are at the forefront of an exciting new current in Indigenous Australian art, making a strong a push toward more vibrant, gestural and colourful aesthetic statement.