Luke Scholes | Art Consultant

Luke Scholes presenting beside a large artwork — Luke presenting at the exhibition: Memories of Now.

About

Luke's twenty-year practice spans the commercial and museum sectors as a curator, consultant, and scholar specialising in Australian First Nations art. Working alongside Aboriginal knowledge holders and cultural experts, he has developed major research projects, exhibitions, and publications. He has assisted in the development of numerous private and institutional collections across Australia, the US, and Europe. He is now channelling this experience into an independent advisory practice based in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Northern Territory.

More about me

Luke was Director, D Lan Galleries between 2024 and 2026. Prior to this, he was an Associate Research Fellow at Deakin University, studying a collection of over 800 crayon drawings created by Aboriginal stockmen at Birrundudu Pastoral Station in 1945. The project, Collecting at the Crossroads: Anthropology, Art and Cultural Change (ARC LP200100045), was funded by the Australian Research Council.

Luke Scholes seated on a rock outcrop at Lirrangani, Western Australia — Luke working on the Birrundudu Drawings project at Lirrangani, Western Australia.

Luke was Curator of Aboriginal Art and Material Culture at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) between 2015 and 2021. During this time he curated the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, and, alongside senior Pintupi, Luritja and Warlpiri men, co-curated the award-winning exhibition Tjungunutja: from having come together (2017). In 2020 he curated the moment eternal: Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu, MAGNT's first ever solo exhibition, which was highly commended at the Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMAGA) Awards. Other exhibitions include Fresh: connecting new & old art (2021), Momentum: Recent acquisitions of Aboriginal art (2019), and Tiwi Ceramics: feeling for pattern (2018).

At MAGNT, Luke completed the institution's first ever Collection Development Strategy for its Aboriginal art and material culture collection — one of the finest in the world, with over 3,000 items. The strategy assessed the collection's strengths and weaknesses and set a direction for consolidating and building the collection into the future. He also initiated MAGNT's Supporters of Aboriginal Art Circle, which continues to drive the majority of the museum's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art acquisitions, and raised over one million dollars in support for MAGNT's exhibitions, acquisitions, and collection development during his tenure.

Between 2010 and 2011, Luke was Project Officer, Indigenous Art, at the National Gallery of Victoria, where he was pivotal in delivering the landmark exhibition Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, and contributed to the development of the NGV's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection and exhibition program.

In 2008 he worked as a travelling field officer for Martumili Artists in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Between 2003 and 2007 he worked as a field officer at Kintore, Northern Territory, and Kiwirrkura, Western Australia, before becoming assistant manager at Papunya Tula Artists.

Press

If we go on to ask who are the writers and curators that have made the most outstanding contributions to the greater acceptance of Indigenous art, we can't overlook names such as Howard Morphy, Fred Myers, Judith Ryan, Vivien Johnson, Wally Caruana, Luke Scholes, Ian McLean, Peter Sutton, and so on.
John McDonald, Everything the artworld doesn't want you to know, June 2026

Services

Honesty | Transparency | Discretion

Luke Scholes speaking at the opening of Gunybi Ganambarr | Gapu-Buḏap – Crossing the Water, New York City — Luke talking at the opening of Gunybi Ganambarr | Gapu-Buḏap – Crossing the Water, New York City, 2024.

Collection Development

Guidance on developing meaningful collections of Australian First Nations art for private, corporate, or institutional collections, along with collection analysis and assessments tailored to your needs.

Community Consultation

Over twenty years' experience working alongside communities in remote parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia on major research projects, exhibitions, and publications.

Exhibition Curation

End-to-end exhibition development — concept, artist and object selection, interpretation, and design — for galleries and museums, including major narrative exhibitions.

Writing & Research

Major historical research projects, catalogue essays, exhibition text, and editorial direction for cultural institutions, galleries, and publications.

Provenance & Cataloguing

Research into the provenance of specific works and entire collections. Cataloguing of private and institutional collections, database management, and condition reporting.

Experience

Selected experience & recognition.

Roles

2024 — 2026 Director D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), Melbourne / Sydney / New York
2021 — 2024 Associate Research Fellow, Collecting at the Crossroads: Anthropology, Art and Cultural Change (ARC LP200100045) Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Mparntwe (Alice Springs)
2015 — 2021 Curator of Aboriginal Art and Material Culture Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2014 — 2015 Consultant Curator, Tjungunutja: from having come together Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2013 — 2014 Social Support Coordinator Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation, Alice Springs
2013 — 2014 Consultant Project Officer (Part-time) Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2012 Visual Arts Officer Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
2010 — 2011 Project Officer, Indigenous Art National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2008 — 2009 Researcher Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2008 Field Officer Martumili Artists, Pilbara region, Western Australia
2003 — 2007 Field Officer & Assistant Manager Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs

Exhibitions

2026 Bark Masters 2026 9 July — 21 August 2026 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), Sydney, NSW
2026 Lawrence Pennington: The Tall Man 14 March — 17 April 2026 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), Sydney, NSW
2025 Makinti Napanangka AM & Naata Nungurrayi 15 — 19 October 2025 Frieze Masters, London, UK
2025 Reggie Uluru 2 October — 7 November 2025 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), New York City, United States
2025 Sydney Contemporary Art Fair 11 — 13 September 2025 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), Sydney, NSW
2025 Bark Masters 2025 17 July — 23 August 2025 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), Sydney, NSW
2025 Pillars of Remembrance: Contemporary memorial poles from Yirrkala 20 March — 25 April 2025 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), New York City, United States
2025 Memories of Now: A Single Owner Collection of Masterworks from Yirrkala 1 March — 17 April 2025 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), Sydney, NSW
2025 Shaping the Landscape: Spirit Figures from Northern Australia 6 February — 14 March 2025 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), New York City, United States
2024 Gunybi Ganambarr | Gapu-Buḏap – Crossing the Water 19 September — 8 November 2024 D Lan Galleries (Contemporary), New York City, United States
2021 Fresh: connecting new & old art Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2020 the moment eternal: Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2020 37th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2019 36th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2018 35th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2018 — 2019 Momentum: Recent acquisitions of Aboriginal art Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2018 Tiwi Ceramics: feeling for pattern Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2017 — 2019 Tjungunutja: from having come together (co-curator) Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin & Alice Springs
2017 34th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2016 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2011 — 2012 Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2011 — 2013 Living Water: Contemporary Art of the Far Western Desert National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Awards & Recognition

Tjungunutja: from having come together — exhibition catalogue — Tjungunutja: from having come together — catalogue, edited by Luke Scholes. Winner, Mander Jones Award 2018.

2021 Museums & Galleries Australia National Award — Highly Commended the moment eternal: Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu
2018 Museums & Galleries Australia National Award — Best Indigenous Project, Best Multimedia (Level A), Best in Show: Multimedia Tjungunutja: from having come together
2018 Mander Jones Award, Australian Society of Archivists — Winner (Cat. 2A), Highly Commended (Cat. 5) Tjungunutja: from having come together catalogue
2017 NT Chief Minister's Excellence in Partnering Award Tjungunutja: from having come together
2017 Shortlisted, NT Chief Minister's History Book Award Tjungunutja: from having come together catalogue
2015 NT Literary Award — Browns Mart Script Award, Winner Untitled

Publications & Essays

Editor & Writer

2025 Birrundudu Drawings Upswell Publishing
2023 Sun and Shadow: Art of the Spinifex People Upswell Publishing
2020 the moment eternal: Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2017 Tjungunutja: from having come together Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Writer

2025 80 days at Birrundudu: The Making of the Drawings in Birrundudu Drawings, Upswell Publishing
2023 Beyond 'Collaboration': The Shape of Spinifex Country and Creativity (with John Carty) in Sun and Shadow: Art of the Spinifex People, Upswell Publishing
2023 Lawrence Mirrinya Pennington in Sun and Shadow: Art of the Spinifex People, Upswell Publishing
2023 Early Icons: The Beginning of the Western Desert Art Movement in 60 over 50, 60 paintings from 50 Years of Australian First Nations Art, from the collections of Steve Martin & Anne Stringfield, and John & Barbara Wilkerson, UOVO, New York City
2021 An indelible mark in Kunmanara Carroll: Ngaylu Nyanganyi Ngura Winki (I Can See All Those Places), Jam Factory, Adelaide
2020 Anyhow in the everywhen in the moment eternal: Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2019 Marked beginnings: The emergence of art at Papunya in Before Time Began: Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Fondation Opale, Switzerland
2018 Foreword in Papunya: A Place Made After the Story [new edition], by Geoffrey Bardon & James Bardon, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton, Victoria
2017 Unmasking the myth: the emergence of Papunya painting in Tjungunutja: from having come together, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2017 Mark & Memory: Pepai Jangala Carroll in Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of South Australia
2015 Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri: Powerful Presence in Person and in Paint (with Fred R. Myers) in No Boundaries: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Abstraction from the Debra and Dennis Scholl Collection, DelMonico Books, Nevada Museum of Art
2012 Notes from the field in Unique Perspectives: Papunya Tula Artists and the Alice Springs Community, Araluen Arts Centre, Mparntwe (Alice Springs)
2011 Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra in Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2011 Ronnie Tjampitjinpa in Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2011 Land, loss and identity: art of a great Pintupi lineage Art Journal 50, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2008 Naata Nungurrayi in Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art, the Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney

Exhibition Catalogues & Magazines

2024 Motorbike Paddy Ngal Solo exhibition catalogue, Outstation Gallery, Darwin
2018 Pepai Jangala Carroll Solo exhibition catalogue, Outstation Gallery, Darwin
2017 Pepai Jangala Carroll's journey home Art Monthly Australasia, No. 302, pp. 36–39
2016 Introduction in 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, pp. 4–5
2011 Errors Echo in William MacKinnon: Highs and Lows, Carlton, Victoria
2011 George Tjungurrayi Solo exhibition catalogue, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
2011 Naata Nungurrayi Solo exhibition catalogue, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
2009 From the Western Desert to New York: Ray James Tjangala, Bobby West Tjupurrula, Joseph Jurra Tjapaltjarri Australian Aboriginal Art Magazine, Issue 1
2009 Kiwirrkura women: The shifting shape of Western Desert painting Art & Australia, Volume 46, No. 3, pp. 498–505
2009 Patrick Tjungurrayi & Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
2008 Dollar Dreaming: Inside the Aboriginal Art World Book review, Art & Australia, Volume 46, No. 2
2007 TJAMPITJINPA Commemorative exhibition catalogue, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
2007 Yinarupa Nangala: Paintings from 2002–2007 John Gordon Gallery, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales

Keynotes & Advisory Roles

2019 "At the Centre" — keynote with Bobby West Tjupurrula & Matthew Pinta Tjapangati Australian Museums & Galleries Association National Conference, Alice Springs
2018 "Working with a collection — Tjungunutja" — keynote Spark NT Symposium, Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts, Katherine
2020 — Present Board Member Charles Darwin University Cultural Collections Advisory Board
2018 — 2021 Member National Aboriginal Art Gallery Reference Group, NT Government

Contact

Let's talk about your project.

luke@lukescholes.com.au

+61 423 470 754

Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Northern Territory, Australia