Reggie Sultan Apengarte / Bushfire Dreaming (SUL223)

Reggie Sultan Apengarte was born in Alice Springs in 1955 and is a Kaytetye artist whose mother’s Country lies around Barrow Creek and Neutral Junction in Central Australia. He now lives in Darwin.

Reggie first took up painting as a young boy while attending the Alice Springs Convent School, where he won a number of school art awards. Much of his early artistic education, however, came from watching older artists painting along the Todd River and Chinaman’s Creek. His earliest works were landscapes influenced by the Namatjira tradition, depicting the Country around Alice Springs, and he sold his first painting through the mission block store.

As a young man Reggie worked on cattle stations as a station hand and fencer, continuing to paint whenever he had the opportunity. In 1985 he became a professional artist and began expanding his practice beyond landscape painting, incorporating dot painting, Aboriginal symbols and figurative imagery to tell stories connected to his mother’s Country and his own experiences of life in the Central Australian bush.

Over the years Reggie has developed a highly individual narrative style. His paintings depict hunting, gathering bush foods, finding water, ceremony, Country and ancestral stories, often populated by small figures whose activities unfold across the landscape. He is also known for his distinctive use of strong reds, yellows and ochre tones and for creating textured, speckled backgrounds using leaves.

Reggie’s work also extends to important historical and social narratives. In 2026, exhibiting under his full name Reginald Sultan, he was selected as a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Telstra NATSIAA) for Coniston Station massacre 2025 in the Telstra General Painting Award category. The work addresses the 1928 Coniston killings in Central Australia and was subsequently acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

The acquisition marks an important recognition of Reggie’s practice and of his ability to use painting not only to tell stories of Country and traditional life, but also to bear witness to difficult histories of loss, survival and injustice.

In addition to his painting practice, Reggie is an author and illustrator. His published works include his autobiography, An Uncontrollable Child: The Autobiography of an Aboriginal Artist, and the illustrated children’s book The Seven Sisters. He has exhibited nationally and has also produced public artwork, including a mural at the Darwin Entertainment Centre.

Selected Exhibitions and Awards

• 2026: Finalist, Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Telstra General Painting Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Coniston Station massacre 2025 acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
• 1995: Twelfth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
• 1994: Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Old Parliament House, Canberra
• 1994: Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
• 1993: Tenth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
• 1991: Flinders Art Gallery, Townsville
• 1989: Sixth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Public Art

• Mural, Darwin Entertainment Centre

Selected Bibliography

• Hardy, J., Megaw, J.V.S. and Megaw, M.R. (eds), 1992, The Heritage of Namatjira: The Watercolourists of Central Australia, William Heinemann, Australia
• Sultan, Reggie, An Uncontrollable Child: The Autobiography of an Aboriginal Artist
• Sultan, Reggie, The Seven Sisters

In Bushfire Dreaming, Reggie Sultan Apengarte depicts the powerful presence of fire and its longstanding importance in Aboriginal life and culture.

Reggie explains that Aboriginal people traditionally use fire on Country to encourage new growth and renew food resources. After burning, fresh grasses and other plants return, supporting the gathering of bush foods and attracting animals back to the Country. These practices continue today as part of caring for and maintaining Country.

For Reggie, fire also carries cultural and ceremonial significance. He speaks of men traditionally lighting fires during ceremonial men’s business, connecting the practice of burning Country with knowledge and customs that have been passed through generations.

Rather than depicting the landscape literally, Reggie fills the canvas with an intense field of colour and movement. Sweeping strokes of red, orange and yellow rise against the dark background like flames, punctuated by flashes of blue and pale yellow. The layered, energetic marks capture both the force of a bushfire and the sense of regeneration that follows, presenting fire not simply as destruction, but as an important part of Country, culture and renewal.