tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/indigenous-art-10029/articles
Indigenous art – The Conversation
2024-03-27T20:52:22Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223617
2024-03-27T20:52:22Z
2024-03-27T20:52:22Z
Updated U.S. law still leaves Indigenous communities in Canada out of repatriations from museums
<p>A new amendment to the United States’ <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation-act-systematic-processes-for-disposition-or">Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)</a> came into effect in January 2024. The amended law now has some teeth to penalize museums who have thus far been <a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-returning-indigenous-human-remains-but-progress-on-repatriating-objects-is-slow-67378">very slow to engage</a> with Indigenous communities. It puts pressure on them to create and share inventories of the remains and artifacts they hold.</p>
<p>NAGPRA regulates the repatriation of Native American human remains, funerary and sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony from federally funded agencies to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations. </p>
<p>Museums must now get prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities before displaying and studying cultural objects. They must also <a href="https://theconversation.com/kennewick-man-will-be-reburied-but-quandaries-around-human-remains-wont-59219">incorporate Native American traditional knowledge</a> in the storage, treatment and handling of remains and cultural items. The act now gives museums and other federal agencies five years to “<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation-act-systematic-processes-for-disposition-or">consult and update inventories of human remains and associated funerary objects</a>.”</p>
<p>NAGPRA is an important step in a long history of Indigenous Peoples’ struggle to govern their heritage. However, its authority stops at the U.S. border.</p>
<p>We are First Nations historians and professors working in Canada. Our communities are also impacted by the loss of cultural patrimony to museums in the U.S. and the laws covering repatriation. Mary Jane Logan McCallum is a member of the Munsee Delaware Nation and Susan M. Hill is a Haudenosaunee citizen and resident of the Grand River Territory.</p>
<p>The U.S. law provides Indigenous communities in lands claimed by Canada no legal or financial support to repatriate human remains, funerary and sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony held in U.S museums. These institutions <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/object-lives-and-global-histories-in-northern-north-america-products-9780228003984.php">hold many items</a> purchased or obtained by anthropologists and others from communities north of the border.</p>
<h2>NAGPRA</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.doi.gov/ocl/nagpra">NAGPRA became law in 1990</a>, after decades of lobbying from hundreds of Indigenous communities. The law states that museums and institutions receiving federal funding must produce detailed inventories of their collections and notify Native American tribes regarding items connected to their communities.</p>
<p>While those who called for the legislation were undoubtedly aware of the daunting task it would mandate, it is unlikely any would have predicted the extremely slow pace at which it has progressed in the three decades since.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, some museums have unilaterally decided to <a href="https://www.amnh.org/about/statement-new-nagpra-regulations">cover or close displays</a>. This is intended as a first step towards repatriation, however with ongoing limited resources, it is also a tactic to remain compliant with the law and avoid having funding cut.</p>
<p>The newly revised law still upholds inherent inequities in the relationships between Indigenous people and the agencies holding our materials. There is a lack of consistent and adequate funding for Indigenous communities wishing to repatriate items. There is also a lack of expert knowledge of the holdings of museums across the U.S. and human resources and infrastructure for long-term handling of repatriated objects. </p>
<p>In this context of ongoing inequity, museums can continue to hold Indigenous objects, but away from public view, and inadvertently create a narrative of history centred on white stories and white voices with little or no Indigenous content.</p>
<h2>Indigenous communities outside the U.S.</h2>
<p>For Indigenous communities outside of the U.S., the act does not compel museums and institutions to work in good faith to facilitate repatriations, regardless of how much evidence Indigenous communities are able to provide supporting the origins and sacredness of those items. </p>
<p>Indigenous communities in Canada are impacted by the law because these items are important to community-based research of material culture and its connection to intellectual, social and political histories of our nations.</p>
<p>Museums make platitudes about strong commitments to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-as-museums-grapple-with-repatriation-a-cultural-historian-warns-of/">working with and educating about Indigenous Peoples and cultures</a>. However, they are still the ones choosing what gets displayed without consultation with Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/repatriation-native-american-remains_n_64b97d77e4b0ad7b75f7dd15/amp">the burden is placed on tribes to make requests and pay for repatriation</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, the public loses important opportunities to learn about Indigenous Peoples and the colonial legacies that dispossessed them of the land upon which museums are built and the artifacts they house.</p>
<h2>Indigenous labour</h2>
<p>A further issue with NAGPRA is that it perpetuates an assumption that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7109072">Indigenous labour should be discounted or free</a> and reasserts the inequity faced by Indigenous people when dealing with government.</p>
<p>Small, piecemeal grants covering costs like transportation are available through NAGPRA, but are restricted to federally recognized tribes in the U.S. and Indigenous people are responsible for finding and applying for them.</p>
<p>In Canada, community-based Indigenous scholars can apply for federal funding from the <a href="https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/index-eng.aspx">Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</a>, however grant applications can be long and difficult, funds received are administered by universities and the grants often do not provide enough money.</p>
<p>Museums have full-time paid staff to make inventories and seek descendant individuals and communities. On the other hand, the Indigenous labour, knowledge and skill that goes into identifying and making meaning of lost cultural patrimony, often goes unpaid and unappreciated. </p>
<p>In addition, those doing this hard work <a href="https://histanthro.org/notes/decolonizing-or-recolonizing/">contend with the anti-Indigenous racism and white supremacy that dominate museums and other cultural institutions</a>. Some museums have prioritized hiring Indigenous staff, but they have not made structural changes that address ongoing systemic racism and colonialism nor made space for Indigenous people. As a result, several have left or <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/investigates/decolonizing-museums-museum-decolonization-part-2-investigations/">resigned in protest</a>. </p>
<p>In 2022, the <a href="https://museums.ca/uploaded/web/TRC_2022/Report-CMA-MovedToAction.pdf">Canadian Museums Association delivered a report</a> that acknowledged Indigenous cultural heritage professionals are often required to work for free or at a very low cost through one-off honorariums. It recommended that museums take on the legal and financial responsibility of new positions for those undertaking this work. We have yet to see this in practice. </p>
<p>The new U.S. regulations still do not address another form of theft from Indigenous people — this time not of Indigenous cultural patrimony, but of Indigenous labour. This should be considered by the <a href="https://osi-bis.ca/">Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools</a> as it considers a new federal legal framework that will govern the treatment of graves and burial sites.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
U.S. laws on the repatriation of Indigenous artifacts and remains still uphold inequities in the relationships between Indigenous people and the agencies holding their materials.
Mary Jane Logan McCallum, Professor of History, University of Winnipeg
Susan M. Hill, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies; Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies and History, University of Toronto
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226004
2024-03-20T19:03:09Z
2024-03-20T19:03:09Z
Adelaide Festival 2024: a moving marriage of local and international works – with Indigenous voices front and centre
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583039/original/file-20240320-30-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=113%2C47%2C6177%2C3489&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jada Narkle photographed by T.J. Garvie.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Between COVID, increasing production and transport costs, and changing audience tastes, the country’s largest arts festivals have had to rebadge themselves.</p>
<p>Festivals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth have all undergone major cultural shifts – generally away from internationalism. The new kid on the block, Hobart’s <a href="https://darkmofo.net.au/program">Dark Mofo</a>, offered a brew of Tasmanian winter funkiness. This vision was transferred to <a href="https://rising.melbourne/call-to-artists">Melbourne’s Rising Festival</a> in the wake of lockdowns. </p>
<p>This leaves the Adelaide Festival, founded in 1960, as the venerable grandparent of the region’s art festivals. Against the odds, the Adelaide Festival continues to offer a carefully curated program of international work, placing it in active conversation with domestically produced work.</p>
<p>From 2017-2023, festival co-directors <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/news/latest-news/changes-at-the-top-of-australia-s-leading-international-arts-festival/">Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy</a> delivered a solid program that balanced high-culture spectacle with local work. Their curatorial choices required mutual approval, extensive travel to international festivals, and healthy <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/getting-their-acts-together">doses of fortitude</a>.</p>
<p>This year’s was the first full program curated by experienced international festival director <a href="https://www.fiftyplussa.com.au/arts-culture/introducing-ruth-mackenzie-adelaide-festival-artistic-director/">Ruth Mackenzie</a>, who has worked extensively in the UK and Europe. Under her watch, the festival placed high-quality Indigenous Australian work front and centre, while also showcasing superb offerings from the nation’s smaller companies. </p>
<p>On the international front, it brought big-ticket extravaganzas alongside outstanding theatre and dance groups from outside the mainstream. </p>
<p>I saw all the shows in this year’s theatre, music theatre, dance, dance theatre and opera categories. The music and visual arts program, as well as the events of Writer’s Week and WomAdelaide, were too much to take in simultaneously. </p>
<h2>Indigenous Australia front and centre</h2>
<p>When it comes to programming Indigenous work in the festival, pulling existing work off-the-shelf isn’t possible. And if it were, it wouldn’t be respectful or desirable.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dancers Maanyung and Rika Hamaguchi performed in ‘Baleen Moondjan’ on the shores of Pathawilyangga (Glenelg) beach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Boud</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indigenous artists must be in positions of cultural and artistic leadership. Perhaps the greatest challenge is identifying and obtaining the financial resources from local and national funding bodies to support these artists.</p>
<p>Such work requires tact, solid community contacts and a deep knowledge of how funding and local systems work. Mackenzie, with the help of chief executive Kath M. Mainland and a capable festival staff, appears to have mastered these challenges.</p>
<p>This year’s festival featured outstanding works by Indigenous artists both local and national. For me, the standout was <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/baleen-moondjan/">Baleen Moondjan</a>, Stephen Page’s first commissioned work since leaving the helm of the Bangarra Dance Theatre.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baleen Moondjan was staged amid a row of large whale bones at Pathawilyangga (Glenelg) beach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SA UAVs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Staged on a sandy ridge amid a row of whale bones extending to the water’s edge at Glenelg (Pathawilyangga) Beach, the work dramatised the transfer of faith, spirit and knowledge across the generations. </p>
<p>Masterfully blending music, dance, movement, song and text, it featured powerful performances from Elaine Crombie as Moondjan elder Gindara, and Zipporah Corser-Anu as her granddaughter.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baleen Moondjan is Stephen Page’s first commissioned work since leaving the Bangarra Dance Theatre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roy VanDerVegt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Guuranda, written and directed by <a href="https://www.jacobboehme.com.au/about">Jacob Boehme</a>, was another breakthrough work of local Indigenous storytelling. Like Baleen Moondjan, it was commissioned by the festival and supported by donors to the Adelaide Festival First Nations Commissioning Program. </p>
<p>The creative team drew from consultations with four elders from Narungga Country, traditional owners of the Yorke Peninsula region. Their personal stories were connected to creation stories linked to physical features of the land. </p>
<p>These ancient, living stories were beautifully evoked through dance and song. Lyrics in Narungga, written by Jacob Boehme and Sonya Rankine, were powerfully delivered by Rankine, Warren Milera and the Narungga Family Choir. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guuranda’s creative team drew from consultations with Narungga country elders.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Standing</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another standout was the Australian Dance Theatre’s production of <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/marrow/">Marrow</a>, choreographed by Daniel Riley. </p>
<p>The starting point for this work, Riley noted in post-show remarks, was the heartbreak that followed <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-17/sa-aboriginal-leaders-call-to-learn-from-referendum-result/102981736">the failure</a> of the Indigenous Voice referendum in October.</p>
<p>This work evoked that disappointment viscerally. Dancers moved with difficulty, against obstacles, then walked backwards toward the audience. Later they were tossed about, as if responding to external blows. </p>
<p>The work’s trajectory suggested it is the power of the land itself that provides the strength to continue the fight. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3jyYtGvp41","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>A celebration of indie creators</h2>
<p>Australian work has long had a strong presence in the festival. But this year’s programming brought festival audiences into unaccustomed spaces to experience work by some of the nation’s most consistently interesting non-mainstream companies. </p>
<p>No longer was the best work of our independent companies relegated almost exclusively to the nation’s two large Fringe festivals (Adelaide and Melbourne). Mackenzie had the curatorial confidence to program their work alongside audacious, high-brow, big-ticket extravaganzas from some of the world’s most famed directors and choreographers.</p>
<p>Among the local standouts was <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/private-view/">Private View</a> by Adelaide’s Restless Dance Theatre. Their honest, gentle and confronting exploration of the ups and downs of love drew from the experiences and imaginations of the company’s troupe of dancers living with and without disabilities. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Private View was a gentle and confronting exploration of the ups and downs of love.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Byrne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The work broke down barriers between audience and onlooker, able and disabled. It ended with many of us on our feet, dancing in a sea of confetti, joyous.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of the audience members ended the show on their feet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Byrne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another supremely memorable show from the independent sector was <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/grand-theft-theatre/">Grand Theft Theatre</a> by Pony Cam, led by David Williams. With equal amounts of humour, charm and earnestness, highly skilled actor-dancers reminded us not just why we go to the theatre, but of how this experience can change lives.</p>
<p>It was a pleasure to also see work from <a href="https://vitalstatistix.com.au/">VITALStatistix</a>, a company that has been making high-quality, socially engaged work in Port Adelaide since 1984. The company’s <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/i-hide-in-bathrooms/">I Hide in Bathrooms</a> was staged in their home in the historic Waterside Worker’s Hall. </p>
<p>Writer/performer Astrid Pill offered a quirky, serious and moving take on life, partnership and death. We were left with an obvious but often overlooked truth: “We will all be left, and we will all leave.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Astrid Pill’s I Hide In Bathrooms offered a quirky yet moving take on life, partnership and death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam Oster</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>International fare</h2>
<p>Mackenzie brought in work by four of the established superstars of the international festival circuit: directors Barry Kosky, Robert Lepage and Thomas Ostermeier, and choreographer Akram Khan. </p>
<p>She also programmed a deeply satisfying selection of carefully crafted, timely works by smaller companies, mostly based in Europe. </p>
<p>Among the outstanding works in this category were <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/qui-a-tue-mon-pere/">Qui a tué mon père (Who Killed my Father)</a> and Antigone in the Amazon.</p>
<p>In the former, acclaimed German director Ostermeier teamed up with Édouard Louis in a theatrical adaptation of Louis’ novel. The writer himself narrated and enacted the story of his troubled relationship with his father, and of growing up gay in a conservative, working-class town a world away from Paris, condemned to “poverty, homophobia and conformity”. The work suggests the ultimate killers of his father were a long line of national leaders from Jacques Chirac to Emmanuel Macron. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">German director Thomas Ostermeier teamed up with Édouard Louis in this theatrical adaptation of Louis’ novel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roy VanDerVegt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For me, however, the most emotionally taxing but rewarding work of this year’s festival was <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/antigone-in-the-amazon/">Antigone in the Amazon</a>. It’s a collaboration between the Belgium company NTGent and the Amazonian activist group Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST).</p>
<p>Brilliantly directed by Milo Rau, the work offers complex, multi-layered insights into the ongoing battle between Indigenous peoples in the Amazonian rainforest and those profiting from the land through deforestation and habitat destruction. The dramatic recreation of a well-known <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2016/04/the-eldorado-dos-carajas-massacre-20-years-of-impunity-and-violence-in-brazil/">massacre of 17 civilians</a> in the state of Pará on April 17 1996 was masterfully paired with Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigone_(Sophocles_play)">Antigone</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antigone in the Amazon offered multi-layered insights into the struggles of Indigenous peoples in the Amazonian rainforest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kurt van der Elst</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Live action was cleverly linked to videos shot in remote locations in the Amazon. In turn, the onstage actors appeared in sequences shot on location with actors associated with the MST. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antigone in the Amazon drew on Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy, Antigone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Kurt van der Elst</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The result was an uncanny and powerful doubling. Drawing from Sophocles’ play, the work concludes with the tragic observation that “the killers and the killed” are “all one family”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Live action was linked to videos shot in remote locations in the Amazon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kurt van der Elst</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The festival’s three big-ticket items were clear crowd-pleasers. </p>
<p>Berlin-based Australian Barry Kosky offered up a dark, brilliant staging of Bertolt Brecht’s <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/the-threepenny-opera/">The Threepenny Opera</a>. Actors moved up, down and across a massive black constructivist set, playing a game of cat and mouse that ends with the capture of arch-villain Macheath. </p>
<p>All are equally complicit in creating misery in this Weimar-era German classic, in which Kurt Weil’s lilting tunes contrast with Brecht’s hard-hitting lyrics to create that sense of estrangement Brecht is famous for.</p>
<p>Canadian director Robert Lepage’s <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/the-nightingale-and-other-fables/">The Nightingale and Other Fables</a> came in two parts: a prelude of Russian folk tales, ingeniously presented with human bodies creating shadows, and a wildly extravagant staging of Igor Stravinsky’s short opera, The Nightingale.</p>
<p>Based on a Chinese classic tale, it tells the story of a nightingale (sung by soprano Yuliia Zasimova) who enchants the emperor and ultimately returns every night to sing to him.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The work used Vietnamese water puppetry, with the puppets manipulated from a pool of waist-deep water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Beveridge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lepage’s staging relied on the charming and enchanting tradition of Vietnamese water puppetry. While puppets were manipulated from a pool of waist-deep water in the orchestra pit area, the stage of the Festival Theatre was filled to capacity with members of the State Opera of South Australia Chorus and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.</p>
<p>It was a thrilling production with inventive and ingenious puppets of all sizes, even if excessive in its visual splendour at times.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One part of the production included a staging of Igor Stravinsky’s short opera, The Nightingale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Beveridge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Nightingale and Other Fables was a vibrant, visually enchanting production.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Beveridge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Choreographer <a href="https://www.akramkhancompany.net/">Akram Khan’s</a> work famously builds on the vocabulary of the traditional South Asian dance, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathak">Kathak</a>, as a basis for his company’s unique style of contemporary dance. His work <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/jungle-book-reimagined/">Jungle Book reimagined</a> is far from the Disney version.</p>
<p>In this darkly dystopian world, climate change has brought devastation to the planet. Humans are useful only for what they can teach the remaining animals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Kathak-inspired dance in Jungle Book reimagined involved extraordinary precision, speed and athleticism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Camilla Greenwell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though I found the use of text intrusive and confusing at times, the dance work involved all the extraordinary precision, speed, athleticism and full use of the body associated with Khan’s choreographic practice. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jan Mikaela Villanueva played Mowgli in Jungle Book reimagined.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Camilla Greenwell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An old vision realised</h2>
<p>The depth, breadth, range, grit and good-heartedness of this year’s festival made me reflect on one of the most infamous of international festival fails: the dismissal of artistic director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sellars">Peter Sellars</a> in November 2001, months prior to the opening of the 2002 Adelaide Festival.</p>
<p>Sellars, who met great success as a theatre and opera director in Europe and his native US, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/17/books">had a compelling vision</a> for an Adelaide Festival. He wanted one that was international, yet intensely local, and which featured new Indigenous Australian work.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, for a range of reasons – not least of which was a lack of understanding of how things work in Australia – Sellars was sent packing.</p>
<p>Some 22 years later, we have a festival that in many respects realises Sellars’ three-pronged vision. It’s made possible because Ruth MacKenzie and her team did their homework, and did it well.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4mZembvEdb","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-magic-tricks-and-the-deep-souls-of-theatre-dance-and-music-at-the-2024-perth-festival-225343">The magic tricks and the deep souls of theatre, dance and music at the 2024 Perth Festival</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Peterson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The theatre, dance and music works at this year’s festival have helped fulfil a three-pronged vision from some two decades ago.
William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220029
2024-01-09T00:48:20Z
2024-01-09T00:48:20Z
New analysis unlocks the hidden meaning of 15,000-year-old rock art in Arnhem Land
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566518/original/file-20231219-27-o7yxd4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C462%2C4449%2C2986&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Moffat</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rock art is one of the most intriguing records of the human past – it directly represents how our ancestors viewed their world. This provides a fundamentally different perspective compared to other archaeological items, such as stone artefacts.</p>
<p>Despite this beguiling potential, rock art research can be highly challenging. Different researchers can have contrasting interpretations of what the same image means. Sometimes they can’t even agree on what the rock art represents.</p>
<p>Given these difficulties, how can rock art contribute to understanding the past?</p>
<p>Our new research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01917-y">published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences</a> uses an innovative approach to understand rock art in Arnhem Land in a fundamentally different way.</p>
<h2>A dramatic landscape change</h2>
<p>Our work concerns the Red Lily Lagoon area. This part of western Arnhem Land contains an internationally significant record of humanity’s past, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">Australia’s oldest archaeological site</a>.</p>
<p>It has also been the subject of dramatic landscape change as a result of sea levels rising significantly over the last 14,000 years.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/remarkable-new-tech-has-revealed-the-ancient-landscape-of-arnhem-land-that-greeted-australias-first-peoples-201394">Remarkable new tech has revealed the ancient landscape of Arnhem Land that greeted Australia’s First Peoples</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The coastline moved from hundreds of kilometres away to right up against the cliffs in the Red Lily region, before retreating northwards about 50km to its current position. These changes would have had profound implications for people living in the area.</p>
<p>The complex landscape of sandstone cliffs and flat floodplains would have dramatically changed: from open savanna, to mudflat, to mangrove swamp. Eventually it would become the seasonally inundated freshwater wetlands that exist in the region today.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566796/original/file-20231220-29-rrvdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two people touching a wall with rock art showing outlines of human hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566796/original/file-20231220-29-rrvdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566796/original/file-20231220-29-rrvdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566796/original/file-20231220-29-rrvdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566796/original/file-20231220-29-rrvdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566796/original/file-20231220-29-rrvdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566796/original/file-20231220-29-rrvdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566796/original/file-20231220-29-rrvdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arnhem Land hosts a stunning rock art record which continues to be maintained today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Moffat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An astonishing rock art record</h2>
<p>Arnhem Land has an astonishing <a href="https://theconversation.com/threat-or-trading-partner-sailing-vessels-in-northwestern-arnhem-land-rock-art-reveal-different-attitudes-to-visitors-161586">rock art record</a> that continues to be maintained by Traditional Owners today.</p>
<p>The rock art in Arnhem Land can be categorised into a number of different styles, which change over millennia. These styles, including <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/xray/hd_xray.htm">the well-known X-Ray style</a>, are thought to align with landscape changes driven by sea level rise. For example, saltwater animals such as fish appear in the rock art record when the sea had risen enough to impact this area.</p>
<p>To overcome the subjective nature of interpreting the artwork, archaeologists often turn to the landscape – to understand the placements of different types of art. </p>
<p>This approach usually assumes that the landscape today looks similar to when the art was painted. In Arnhem Land, where rock art has been estimated to be over 15,000 years old and the landscape has changed dramatically over this time, this isn’t true. </p>
<p>Our research used high-resolution elevation data, created from plane and drone surveys, to understand the placement of rock art sites throughout the landscape. We also mapped buried landscapes using imaging techniques to understand how the landscape has changed over time.</p>
<p>We used this data to understand how much of the landscape could be seen from each rock art site during each period of landscape evolution. We also examined what type of landscape was visible from each location. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566230/original/file-20231218-19-xga6y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bearded smiling man holding a large black and red device with wings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566230/original/file-20231218-19-xga6y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566230/original/file-20231218-19-xga6y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566230/original/file-20231218-19-xga6y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566230/original/file-20231218-19-xga6y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566230/original/file-20231218-19-xga6y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566230/original/file-20231218-19-xga6y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566230/original/file-20231218-19-xga6y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drone used to survey rock art in the Red Lily Lagoon area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Moffat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is the first time this approach has been used in Arnhem Land. The results provide new insights into what inspired people to create rock art at different times in the past.</p>
<h2>Valuable mangroves</h2>
<p>Importantly, we found rock art production was most active, diverse in style, and covered the most area of the plateau during the period when mangroves completely covered the floodplains.</p>
<p>This may be because the mangroves provided abundant resources which sustained a large and stable human population. Or perhaps it was a response to the substantial contraction of available land caused by the sea level rise.</p>
<p>We also found that during the period when the sea level was rising, rock art was preferentially made in areas with long-distance views over areas of open woodland.</p>
<p>This may have been to facilitate hunting, or to allow careful management of landscapes during a period when many people would have been displaced from the north by sea level rise.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566797/original/file-20231220-15-62df57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A panorama of a rocky landscape with a blue sky above it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566797/original/file-20231220-15-62df57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566797/original/file-20231220-15-62df57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=177&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566797/original/file-20231220-15-62df57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=177&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566797/original/file-20231220-15-62df57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=177&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566797/original/file-20231220-15-62df57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566797/original/file-20231220-15-62df57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566797/original/file-20231220-15-62df57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The complex mosaic of floodplain, plateau and escarpment country in the Red Lily Lagoon area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Moffat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Detailed landscapes provide deep insights</h2>
<p>Overall, our results show people in the past selected locations for rock art placement with intention. These rock art placements have the potential to tell us much more about the archaeology of Arnhem Land.</p>
<p>The locations where art is made have changed fundamentally over time. This reflects significant social and economic changes, which follow the landscape evolution over the long history of human occupation in western Arnhem Land.</p>
<p>Importantly, our results show that considering rock art through the lens of the modern landscape makes it impossible to make sense of the patterns of rock art placement and other archaeological records.</p>
<p>Our work shows more detailed models of the landscape directly surrounding archaeological sites can yield profound insights into past human activities, even those as difficult to interpret as the incredible artwork of Arnhem land.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/threat-or-trading-partner-sailing-vessels-in-northwestern-arnhem-land-rock-art-reveal-different-attitudes-to-visitors-161586">Threat or trading partner? Sailing vessels in northwestern Arnhem Land rock art reveal different attitudes to visitors</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220029/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jarrad Daniel Kowlessar receives funding from Flinders University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Wesley receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Flinders University, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and National Geographic. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Moffat receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Flinders University, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alfred Nayinggul does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Rock art directly represents how our ancestors saw the world. A new approach involving the history of the landscape brings fresh meaning to Arnhem Land rock art.
Jarrad Daniel Kowlessar, Associate Lecturer, Flinders University
Alfred Nayinggul, Senior Erre Traditional Owner, Indigenous Knowledge
Daryl Wesley, Senior research fellow, Flinders University
Ian Moffat, Associate Professor of Archaeological Science, Flinders University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212682
2023-10-02T19:08:13Z
2023-10-02T19:08:13Z
Saskatchewan’s revised policy for consulting Indigenous nations is not nearly good enough
<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/saskatchewans-revised-policy-for-consulting-indigenous-nations-is-not-nearly-good-enough" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Government of Saskatchewan announced its revised <a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2023/august/11/revised-2023-first-nation-and-metis-consultation-policy-framework-released">framework for consultation with First Nation and Métis communities</a> in August 2023. This framework sets out the provincial government’s latest approach to fulfilling its constitutional duty to consult and accommodate Indigenous Peoples. However, Indigenous leaders <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-policy-indigenous-1.6934724">say the changes do not go far enough</a>. </p>
<p>This is the first time changes have been made to the <a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/first-nations-citizens/duty-to-consult-first-nations-and-metis-communities/first-nation-and-metis-consultation-policy-framework-review-and-revised-policy">consultation framework</a> in 13 years. While a few changes will come into effect in January of 2024, in substance, this policy advances the same 15-year-old framework for consultation from 2008, which was <a href="https://ammsa.com/publications/saskatchewan-sage/duty-consult-key-priority-fsin">rejected then</a> by First Nations in Saskatchewan and has again been <a href="https://regina.ctvnews.ca/sask-government-unveils-new-indigenous-consultation-framework-fsin-rejects-it-1.6516134">rejected now</a>.</p>
<p>Yet this is just one document that speaks to far deeper issues and must be placed in a broader context, especially as we recently marked <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1631130192216/1631130220404">the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation</a> on Sept. 30.</p>
<p>The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 <a href="https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Calls to Action</a> call on all levels of government to support a new policymaking framework for the country. Some Canadian jurisdictions are making efforts to break away from colonial mentalities by developing policies in true partnership with Indigenous Peoples. Yet, in Saskatchewan, there is little evidence of any similar progress. </p>
<h2>Sticking with the status quo</h2>
<p>Careful readers might spot <a href="https://www.mltaikins.com/indigenous/saskatchewan-announces-new-first-nation-and-metis-consultation-policy-framework/">slight differences</a> between the revised version and Saskatchewan’s earlier provincial frameworks. Timelines have been tweaked, a new chart has been added and a central role for the Ministry of Government Relations has been clarified. </p>
<p>Yet stepping back from the minutiae, the provincial government’s approach to Indigenous consultation largely preserves the status quo — a standard that is out-of-step with the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)</a> and broader trends in Canadian and international law. It also fails to acknowledge or make any concessions to the distinct perspectives of the Indigenous Peoples of this land.</p>
<p>The TRC called for Canada to adopt UNDRIP as its framework for policy development. This could help set in motion a new era of policymaking that reorients us toward reconciliation. UNDRIP affirms the <a href="https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2018/01/10/legislative-framework-essential-un-declaration-response/271733/">minimum standards</a> for the survival, dignity, security and well-being of Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Both the <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/declaration/index.html">federal government</a> and <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/indigenous-people/new-relationship/united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples">British Columbia</a> have enacted legislation to implement UNDRIP. But similar action in other Canadian jurisdictions remains slow or non-existent.</p>
<p>Saskatchewan’s government has so far avoided engaging with UNDRIP in its policymaking processes. Notably, the UN declaration is absent from its revised consultation framework. </p>
<h2>Leaving it up to the courts</h2>
<p>The government of Saskatchewan <a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2023/august/11/revised-2023-first-nation-and-metis-consultation-policy-framework-released">says the revised policy reflects its dedication</a> to “building positive relationships, honouring Aboriginal and Treaty rights, and supporting economic reconciliation.” </p>
<p>However, the policy primarily summarizes principles from case law on the duty to consult Indigenous Peoples. If the framework was simply intended as legal advice for civil servants to help them avoid lawsuits, that would be one thing. But the framework purports to serve a more ambitious goal: facilitating “<a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/public-consultations/past-consultations/first-nation-and-metis-consultation-policy-framework-engagement">mutually beneficial relationships</a>” with Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Case law and legal precedent reflect specific disputes based on the specific facts that give rise to them. They cannot be used to design entire policy frameworks from the ground up. Relying almost entirely on the existing case law as a framework for relationship-building with Indigenous Peoples is misguided. </p>
<p>When it comes to the duty to consult and accommodate, the courts define the minimum legal standards within which other branches of government must operate. In other words, they clarify a constitutional floor below which the executive and legislative branches cannot sink. But this is very different from dictating what policies and consultations <em>should</em> look like. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/1fsvj"><em>R. v. Sparrow</em></a>, the Supreme Court of Canada described Canada’s constitutional provision for Aboriginal and Treaty rights, <a href="https://www.constitutionalstudies.ca/2021/09/section-35-aboriginal-and-treaty-rights/">section 35</a>, as “a solid constitutional base upon which subsequent negotiations can take place.” </p>
<p>In <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/1j4tq"><em>Haida Nation v. British Columbia</em></a>, the court described section 35 as “a promise of rights recognition” that requires “honourable negotiation,” as well as consultation and accommodation. The Supreme Court has always been clear that the judicial role in reconciliation is a limited one.</p>
<p>More recently, the B.C. Court of Appeal made a similar point in <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/jfdlx"><em>Ahousaht Indian Band and Nation v. Canada</em></a>, a case on commercial fishing rights. It stated that a court has no capacity to “design a fishery.” At most, it can provide legal guidance to assist Indigenous Peoples and Canadian governments in crafting regulations that respect Indigenous rights. </p>
<p>Courts cannot and will not design the laws and policies that are required for a positive, just political relationship. It is up to the federal and provincial governments to work with Indigenous Peoples to build a harmonious relationship or <a href="https://teaching.usask.ca/curriculum/indigenous_voices/land-agreements/conclusion.php">miyo-wîcêhtowin</a>.</p>
<h2>Implementing UNDRIP</h2>
<p>Saskatchewan’s approach may be setting the province up for greater risk as well. The case law it relies on shifts and the policy itself can be challenged before the courts. For example, the Métis Nation—Saskatchewan is <a href="https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/this-must-and-will-change-metis-nation-sask-takes-province-to-court-over-consultation-policy-1.5107369">actively challenging</a> the policy’s restriction against consultation on Aboriginal title claims.</p>
<p>Likewise, Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation in Treaty 4 territory is <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/ottawa-saskatchewan-government-sued-treaty-rights/">pursuing a claim</a> that no further development can take place in their traditional territory without their consent, as there is almost no land left on which they can freely exercise their treaty rights. A <a href="https://blueberryfn.com/where-happiness-dwells/">similar case</a> succeeded in B.C. in 2021.</p>
<p>Either of these cases could single-handedly raise the floor for consultation and accommodation in Saskatchewan, requiring more meaningful revisions to provincial policy and laws. There can be no certainty in sticking to minimum standards that could be upended at any time. </p>
<p>What is the alternative? As the Supreme Court of Canada noted in <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/g7mt9"><em>Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia</em></a>, the best way to avoid lawsuits is to obtain Indigenous Peoples’ consent. Saskatchewan can follow B.C.’s lead by negotiating nation-specific, consent-based processes in line with UNDRIP.</p>
<p>UNDRIP reflects key principles of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98351-2_5">customary international law</a>, which are <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/j5k5j">directly binding in Canadian courts</a> and therefore highly relevant to Canadian policymaking.</p>
<p>Saskatchewan has been a policy leader in many fundamental areas, with <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/reports-publications/health-care-system/canada.html">universal health care</a> often mentioned as one of its gifts to Canada. In the 1970s, for a short time, First Nations and the provincial government worked together to create policies on reconciliation that led to <a href="http://www.otc.ca/pages/education.html">agreements on education</a> and laid the foundation for <a href="https://teachers.plea.org/resources/from-dream-to-reality-the-story-of-treaty-land-entitlement/overview">resolving treaty land entitlement claims</a>. </p>
<p>Rather than treating Indigenous nations as political adversaries, the government appreciated the <a href="https://uofrpress.ca/Books/B/Back-to-Blakeney2">importance of partnership and consultation</a>. Saskatchewan’s current provincial government must do more than the bare minimum required by courts and legal precedent. It must work with Indigenous nations on a shared vision for the future that is more likely to withstand the tests of time and litigation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathy Walker has volunteered for Saskatchewan NDP and federal Liberal party candidates in Saskatchewan in two elections.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Ralston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Saskatchewan’s provincial government must work with Indigenous nations on a shared vision for the future that is more likely to withstand the tests of time and litigation.
Benjamin Ralston, Assistant Professor, College of Law, University of Saskatchewan
Kathy Walker, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206264
2023-08-31T12:20:49Z
2023-08-31T12:20:49Z
Peruvian writers tell of a future rooted in the past and contemporary societal issues
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535111/original/file-20230701-24873-qrswzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C3405%2C1395&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An artist's vision of a future underwater Lima, Peru, graces the cover of the short story collection 'Llaqtamasi.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/pandemoniumeditorial/">Art by Juan Diego León via Pandemonium Editorial</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Aymara people of the Andean Highlands speak of <a href="https://ndsmcobserver.com/2023/05/the-future-is-behind-us/#:%7E:text=The%20word%20qhipa%20means%20%E2%80%9Cback,%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20denotes%20a%20future%20time.">“qhipa pacha,”</a> a phrase that refers to the future as a direction one walks to backward. They believe in looking to the past as a way to understand what may come next.</p>
<p>Last year, 13 Peruvian writers launched the <a href="https://qhipapacha2022.blogspot.com/2022/02/manifesto.html">Qhipa Pacha Collective</a>, a literary initiative which “aims to recover the <a href="https://qhipapacha2022.blogspot.com/2022/02/manifesto.html">memory of our original peoples</a> to build possible worlds.” These writers imagine futures that reflect Peruvian ideas and concerns about their past and present. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534657/original/file-20230628-25-x7uxmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portraits of 13 Peruvian writers of speculative fiction appear on a promotional poster" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534657/original/file-20230628-25-x7uxmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534657/original/file-20230628-25-x7uxmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534657/original/file-20230628-25-x7uxmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534657/original/file-20230628-25-x7uxmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534657/original/file-20230628-25-x7uxmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534657/original/file-20230628-25-x7uxmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534657/original/file-20230628-25-x7uxmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peruvian speculative fiction writers and members of Qhipa Pacha.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rocío Quispe Agnoli</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fHNZ_N4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">teaching and writing</a> focuses primarily on Peruvian literary history and realism, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8YEpvFbvRw">a style that has been predominant</a> since the 19th century. Recently, I’ve grown interested in Latin American writers who explore an imagined future through speculative fiction.</p>
<p>This approach isn’t simply science fiction written in Spanish and set in Peru. It’s a genre rooted in respect for both Peru’s ancestral memory and attention to present-day societal issues. </p>
<h2>Writing to mirror society</h2>
<p>In Spanish, the verb “especular” relates to optics, such as a reflection in a mirror. As in English, it also means to speculate – or observe the world attentively and think about it inquisitively. Both meanings inform the term “speculative fiction.” </p>
<p>Speculative fiction is a broad field that encompasses works of fantasy such as “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/LOR/the-lord-of-the-rings">The Lord of the Rings</a>”, horror like “<a href="https://www.harperacademic.com/book/9780062125897/the-exorcist/">The Exorcist</a>,” the supernatural as in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4574334/">Stranger Things</a>,” dystopia such as “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/">The Hunger Games</a>” and science fiction like “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/325356/2001-a-space-odyssey-by-arthur-c-clarke/">2001: A Space Odyssey</a>.” Often, speculative genres have been considered <a href="https://overland.org.au/2016/06/what-does-everyone-have-against-speculative-fiction/">escapist or not serious</a>. Yet, when addressing social, political, economic and climate conflicts and projecting them into the future, speculative literature offers a new way to understand the consequences of the past and the concerns of the present.</p>
<p>Futurism is also a type of speculative fiction. At the center of Peruvian futurism are characters of Spanish, Indigenous and African descent. The stories feature Native technologies like <a href="https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/snapshot/quipu">quipus or “talking knots”</a>, an ancient system for recording and transmitting information, and <a href="https://www.forest-trends.org/blog/andenes-y-terrazas-ingenieria-andina-al-servicio-del-agua-y-los-suelos/">“andenes,” or agriculture terraces</a>. They highlight <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Inca-religion">Inca beliefs about the natural world</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/the-dark-constellations-of-the-incas">astronomy</a>.</p>
<p>In such works, fantasy ceases to be an evasion of reality and becomes a critical reflection of our relationship with the world and ourselves, writes <a href="https://www.luccacomicsandgames.com/it/2022/ospiti/dettaglio/santivanez-cesar/">César Santivañez</a>, the editor of <a href="http://isbn.bnp.gob.pe/catalogo.php?mode=detalle&nt=119864">a collection of Peruvian speculative fiction</a>, in the prologue of the book. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534654/original/file-20230628-21915-4aexya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Five book covers of Peruvian speculative fiction published by Pandemonium Editorial" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534654/original/file-20230628-21915-4aexya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534654/original/file-20230628-21915-4aexya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534654/original/file-20230628-21915-4aexya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534654/original/file-20230628-21915-4aexya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534654/original/file-20230628-21915-4aexya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534654/original/file-20230628-21915-4aexya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534654/original/file-20230628-21915-4aexya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Titles of several Peruvian speculative fiction books.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rocío Quispe Agnoli</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fiction grounded in Peru’s history</h2>
<p>In 1843, Julian del Portillo published two <a href="https://www.casadelaliteratura.gob.pe/la-primera-novela-peruana-retorna-171-anos-despues/">serial novels</a> that imagined the cities of Lima and Cuzco 100 years into the future. But modern Peruvian futurism stories offer more than science fiction starring Peruvian characters or places.</p>
<p>Sarko Medina’s <a href="https://isbn.cloud/9786124783357/el-ekeko-y-los-deseos-imposibles/">“Microleyenda”</a> tells of a golden condor suspended in flight in outer space while it holds a sphere of gold in its claws. The sphere contains our universe. The condor is one of many animals floating in space, each safeguarding one sphere containing one universe – until the day thieves appear to steal and replace the spheres with replicas. </p>
<p>Medina’s story was inspired by the golden garden in <a href="https://www.cuscoperu.com/en/travel/cusco/archaeological-centers/qoricancha/">Coricancha, the Temple of the Sun</a> in Cuzco, which was looted by Spanish conquistadors in the 1530s. “Microleyenda” fiercely criticizes the boundless ambition of the conquistadors who looted the Incan empire. </p>
<p>In Daniel Salvo’s story “<a href="https://tenebrisoficial.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/el-primer-peruano-en-el-espacio-de-daniel-salvo/">El primer peruano en el espacio</a>,” a brilliant Andean engineer confronts his captain aboard a space base orbiting Earth, questioning the intentions of those he calls “whites” who, like his captain, intend to dominate his race. Salvo’s work reads as a story of class struggle and ethnic and racial discrimination that mirrors the tension between the white residents of Peru’s dominant urban centers and the Indigenous people of the countryside. This story reflects a social problem of Peruvian society that begins in the colonial era and reaches all the way to the present and on into space.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534460/original/file-20230627-21-ievjpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portrait of a native Peruvian man dressed as an astronaut" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534460/original/file-20230627-21-ievjpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534460/original/file-20230627-21-ievjpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534460/original/file-20230627-21-ievjpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534460/original/file-20230627-21-ievjpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534460/original/file-20230627-21-ievjpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534460/original/file-20230627-21-ievjpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534460/original/file-20230627-21-ievjpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anatolio Pomahuanca, a fictional astronaut who wrestles with the truth while orbiting a troubled Earth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rocío Quispe-Agnoli</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Medina’s and Salvo’s stories are part of a collection that includes <a href="http://isbn.bnp.gob.pe/catalogo.php?mode=detalle&nt=119864">other Peruvian authors</a> who write about a dystopian future in Peru. Also included are Daniel Collazos’ “Dependencia Programada,” Tanya Tynjälä’s “Miraflores,” Luis Apolín’s “Ledva,” and stories by Tania Huerta and Sophie Canal, among others.</p>
<p>These authors side-step the traditional science fiction focus on the technological progress of human society to explore the consequences of limitless dependence on digital tools. How does the human race and the natural world survive when racism and discrimination continue despite technological and scientific advances? </p>
<h2>The future arrives for everyone</h2>
<p>Peruvian futurism is rooted in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-global-south-is-on-the-rise-but-what-exactly-is-the-global-south-207959">the Global South</a>. Much classic science fiction from the United States, in contrast, imagines a future mostly starring Caucasian heroes and Western technologies. The <a href="https://qhipapacha2022.blogspot.com/2022/11/qhipa-pacha-en-la-boskone-59-boston-usa.html">Collective</a> is committed to writing Peruvian literature that does not imitate or replicate these norms. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535679/original/file-20230705-29-21kvjn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dark Peruvian mountains in the background and massive Incan steps carved into the highlands carpeted with green plant material." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535679/original/file-20230705-29-21kvjn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535679/original/file-20230705-29-21kvjn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535679/original/file-20230705-29-21kvjn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535679/original/file-20230705-29-21kvjn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535679/original/file-20230705-29-21kvjn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535679/original/file-20230705-29-21kvjn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535679/original/file-20230705-29-21kvjn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andean terraces near Cuzco, Peru.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Rocío Quispe Agnoli</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the website <a href="https://www.futurefiction.org/?lang=en">Future Fiction</a>, an editorial project to explore the diversity of the future, Italian science fiction writer <a href="https://www.futurefiction.org/category/francesco-verso-stories/?lang=en">Francesco Verso</a> reminds readers that “we all tell ‘tomorrow stories’” and that the future arrives everywhere and for everyone, not only for those living in developed societies. </p>
<p>Peruvian futurism writers are putting those words into practice and helping broaden our view of what the future could be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rocio Quispe Agnoli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In the Global South, a group of writers are rejecting the norms of science fiction and commenting on the future in a way that embraces Indigenous culture.
Rocio Quispe Agnoli, William J. Beal Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211517
2023-08-16T20:04:50Z
2023-08-16T20:04:50Z
‘The first designers and models of this world’: attending the 2023 National Indigenous Fashion Awards
<p>The Darwin winter sunset encircled the city with a brilliant gold. As the crowd anticipated the start of the annual Indigenous fashion parades, the room turned dark, and a lone figure appeared. </p>
<p>As the first model walked, the crowd cheered, excited to see the show they had waited a year to attend. </p>
<p>Throughout two shows, Our Legacy and Our Heart, First Nations models of diverse ages and sizes almost outshone the striking garments they wore. </p>
<p>Designs from 22 labels and collaborations represented the heart and soul of the designers, artists and makers, many who journeyed very long distances for the opportunity to tell their stories through fashion design and art.</p>
<p>The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair has concluded for another year with more than 70 exhibitors and a successful fashion program. The Indigenous Fashion Projects festival grows in size and quality every year, showing the potential for First Nations fashion – like art and music – to become defining features of Australian life.</p>
<p>Yet beyond the lights, makeup and action, people in the First Nations fashion industry just want their voices to be heard. They see their contributions to fashion, textile design and modelling as contributing to cultural tradition, economics and cultural sustainability, and blak pride and storytelling. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cultural-expression-through-dress-towards-a-definition-of-first-nations-fashion-201782">‘Cultural expression through dress’: towards a definition of First Nations fashion</a>
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<h2>Cultural tradition</h2>
<p>The day after the parades, the annual National Indigenous Fashion Awards were held in the beautiful open air. This also provided a moving ceremony as we celebrated the work of 66 First Nations artists, designers and collaborators. </p>
<p>Nearly all the winners referred to the ongoing and living cultural traditions that inform their work, generally framed as female and working with and learning from Elders.</p>
<p>“All those old ladies have passed away but they’re still holding us up,” said a representative from <a href="https://ikuntji.com.au/">Ikuntji Artists</a>. “Their spirit is still strong and walks with us. Thanks for loving our designs and stories because we know they’re still here with us.”</p>
<p>Fashion designer of the year, Wiradjuri, Gangulu and Yorta Yorta woman <a href="https://lillardiabriggshouston.com">Lillardia Briggs-Houston</a>, told the audience: “I am what I am because of my grandmother and grandfather.”</p>
<p>Through both textile and art making, First Nations fashion designers are continuing the unbroken chain of practice that has existed since time immemorial. This was seen on textile designs referencing <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvt9LCEvGwt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">animals</a> to the construction of exquisite headpieces and jewellery using <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CvyLuV8hcwn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">shells and stones</a>.</p>
<h2>Economics and cultural sustainability</h2>
<p>Many winners spoke about the economic opportunities afforded by the fashion industry. Selling fashion and textiles supports “money business”, permitting the makers and designers to remain on Country and continue practising culture while taking their work to audiences around Australia.</p>
<p>Economic opportunities are underpinned by cultural sustainability. <a href="https://gapuwiyak.com.au/">Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts</a> with <a href="https://alydegroot.com.au/">Aly de Groot</a> won both the traditional adornment and community collaboration awards for their work in recreating fibre work from an anthropological photograph. They noted how the 19th century women and their work even looked like models lined up on a catwalk.</p>
<p>The need for fashion design and creative training opportunities on Country was emphasised by Briggs-Houston. As she noted, fashion work – pattern cutting, design adjustments, sewing and embellishment – was traditionally women’s work, conducted at home, but no one felt they were a designer, let alone a brand ambassador. </p>
<p>Briggs-Houston studied fashion at TAFE and learnt from her knowledgeable grandmother:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We were always the seamstress but never the designer back then. Now I dedicate my life to cultural sustainability through fashion. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>One challenge facing emerging First Nations designers is access. The best fashion schools are concentrated in expensive metropolitan centres. Some students must drive all day to reach TAFE. </p>
<p>Fashion is a complex business. It combines designing, making, marketing, branding, photography, styling, and formats from conventional parades to newer fashion films. How to even touch on these skills and make them accessible? </p>
<p>Several First Nations fashion organisations, such as <a href="https://www.ifp.org.au/about/">Indigenous Fashion Projects</a>, <a href="https://firstnationsfashiondesign.com">First Nations Fashion + Design</a> and <a href="https://www.mobinfashion.com.au/">Mob in Fashion</a> are helping via in-person, online and mentoring experiences.</p>
<h2>Blak pride and storytelling</h2>
<p>The Indigenous Fashion Projects festival of events was filled with an assertion of pride and storytelling, as well as a re-configuring of the that idea that fashion is Western and European. </p>
<p>As Northern Territory Arts Minister Chansey Paech (Arrernte/Gurindji) said at the awards, when you buy First Nations fashion “you are buying someone’s story, someone’s connection, someone’s truth”. </p>
<p>The parade and the awards ceremony are always tinged with the modesty of many of the participants. Many live in remote communities and are unused to the spotlight. </p>
<p>As their achievements were listed and screened through beautiful short films about their Country and making (made for NITV broadcast), the audience applause saw them swell with shared confidence. Hayley Dodd from Ikuntji Artists declared when accepting the business achievement award, “We are black. And we are deadly.” </p>
<p>With Australia soon to be deciding on the Voice to Parliament, it is timely to reflect on how much has been achieved with so little financial resources or mainstream power. What might we achieve as a nation if all our peoples are supported, financed and also recognised?</p>
<p>As Paech concluded and reminded us: “First Nations fashion excellence began small. It’s about creativity, excellence and pride. [We are] the first designers and models of this world.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-indigenous-fashion-designers-are-taking-control-and-challenging-the-notion-of-the-heroic-lone-genius-121041">How Indigenous fashion designers are taking control and challenging the notion of the heroic, lone genius</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211517/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil was grateful for a small UTS internal grant to support travel to Larrakia Country.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Treena Clark has received funding through the University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellowship scheme.</span></em></p>
People in the First Nations fashion industry see their work contributing to cultural tradition, economics and cultural sustainability, and blak pride and storytelling.
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207719
2023-06-22T01:55:18Z
2023-06-22T01:55:18Z
Rising has yet to establish its voice – but this year’s festival gave us significant and thrilling work by First Nations artists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533077/original/file-20230621-17-y2w73m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=56%2C22%2C7426%2C4969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tracker, from Australian Dance Theatre and Ilbijerri Theatre.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pedro Greig/Rising</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rising has just completed its second run across Melbourne. The newest addition to the city’s festival scene, Rising replaced the much-loved White Night festival and the much-celebrated Melbourne International Arts Festival.</p>
<p>As a new major arts event for a city that has a year-long calendar of significant festival activity, Rising has yet to establish what kind of intervention it is making in our cultural conversation – although its slick marketing line, “Music, Food, Art and Culture under Moonlight”, speaks to the notion of Melbourne as a wintry ethereal nighttime stage. </p>
<p>Led by artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek, Rising 2023 was an eclectic mix of local and international work. Some offered spectacle and thrill (Tanz and Euphoria) and some offered participation and community (The Rink and 1000 Kazoos). </p>
<p>But I found the highlight of Rising to be the significant and thrilling work created by First Nations artists across dance, visual art, theatre and music. </p>
<p>A key part of the journey of seeing work at Rising was the act of embodied witnessing. </p>
<p>My top three works situated witnessing as a political act. Witnessing is an act of deep listening, designed to change and shift your perspective. These works invite you to revisit what you thought you knew. </p>
<p>Each functioned to rethink questions of history and philosophy, to reshape notions of culture and memory, and troubled legacies of colonial violence.</p>
<h2>Jacky</h2>
<p>Jacky, a new play by Arrernte playwright Declan Furber Gillick, is a beautifully nuanced and performed investigation of the weight of white expectation and capitalism and its potentially dangerous impact on First Nations people. </p>
<p>Jacky (Guy Simon) is a young man who has moved from his community to the city with aspirations of securing a white-collar permanent job and owning an apartment. Jacky’s younger brother, Keith (Ngali Shaw), is sent by family to join him and soon upturns the ordered trajectory of Jacky’s life. </p>
<p>What quickly emerges is a profoundly uncomfortable look at what constitutes palatable Aboriginal behaviour by white people. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jacky is a profoundly uncomfortable look at what constitutes palatable Aboriginal behaviour by white people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jacky’s well-intentioned white boss (Alison Whyte) engages in culturally incompetent behaviour when she requests Jacky pretend he is from a local family group. Jacky’s sex work client, Glen (Greg Stone), requests that Jacky participate in an act of racist role-play. </p>
<p>Keith challenges the social expectations of “good Aboriginal” Jacky has been relying on. He plays witness to the bind Jacky finds himself in: whether he succumbs to the demands of white expectation, or forfeits the social and material gains that are part of playing the role of “sexy Black poster boy”. </p>
<p>Jacky is part of the Melbourne Theatre Company’s season, playing at Arts Centre Melbourne. For me as a white audience member, the performance lays bare an act of political witnessing as Furber Gillick’s writing demands you pay attention and not look away. </p>
<p>Titled in reference to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackey_Jackey">Jacky Jacky</a>, an Aboriginal guide who was awarded medals for his service to NSW, the play troubles ideas of subservience and collaboration within white and First Nations relationships. </p>
<p>It reveals the racist and white supremacist underpinnings of ideas of Aboriginal inclusion premised upon white understandings of success in a capitalist system. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/joyous-comic-and-grim-the-best-new-indigenous-playwrights-72369">Joyous, comic and grim: the best new Indigenous playwrights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Shadow Spirit</h2>
<p>The exhibition Shadow Spirit brings together 30 contemporary First Peoples artists and collectives from across the country into an immersive exhibition, including 14 specially commissioned works. </p>
<p>Curated by Kimberley Moulton, Shadow Spirit weaves throughout the decaying and compelling site of the rooms above Flinders Street Station. Works incorporate a range of forms including light, sound, sculpture, screen and projection. </p>
<p>Ambitious and stunning, as you wander through the exhibition works pay tribute to AC/DC; speak to contemporary hero narratives; and feature First Nations Jedi Knight figures blinking back at you on full-size screens under expansive celestial skies. </p>
<p>There is a giant sculptural bandicoot spirit animal; works that map the spirits and energies of Country, waterways and skies and speak to how ancient knowledges protect land and children; and works that directly address the space between what is known and tangible, and what is felt and intuited. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sculpture with a doll's head and petrol pump." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deeply Rooted is a monstrous and confronting homage to colonial violence and destruction. Deeply Rooted, 2023, Karla Dickens – Wiradjuri.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eugene Hyland/Rising</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One stand-out moment is Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens’ sculptural works Deeply Rooted. </p>
<p>These spiky works fuse together native hardwood from the artist’s Country with found objects like witches hats, steel caps, broken pieces of rabbit trap, petrol nozzles with the sculptural doll-like head of an Aboriginal child. </p>
<p>Together, these objects create a monstrous and confronting homage to colonial violence and destruction, and a comment on the failure of successive governments to implement meaningful policy change. </p>
<p>Another stunning moment is Rarrirarri in the large ballroom. </p>
<p>Artistic collective The Mulka Project and Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda (Yolŋu) have collaborated on an installation. A stone monolith (part Uluru and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kata_Tjuta">Kata Tjutu</a> and part termite mound) rises from the centre of the room. Across this screens stunning graphic projections of floral and animal landscapes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sculpture with projected flowers in a dark ballroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rarrirarri requires you to sit and watch it for some time. Rarrirarri, 2023, The Mulka Project and Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda (NT) – Yolŋu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eugene Hyland/Rising</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rarrirarri speaks clearly to desert landscapes and ceremonial and spiritual Country. It requires you to sit and watch it for some time, as the experience of passing time and a landscape of seasonal change reveals itself in the stunning moving graphics of the art work.</p>
<p>The exhibition’s location at the Flinders Street ballroom brings these stories of creation, ancestral knowledge, spirituality and the legacies of colonial violence into conversation with the city’s civic centre. This site is full of cultural memory as a meeting place for railway workers for over 100 years, and its deeper history as a Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung gathering place across thousands of generations. </p>
<p>Shadow Spirit invites you to linger, to witness and absorb the breadth and depth of knowledge and culture and story threaded through each room in the space.</p>
<p>You are asked to consider your own position and history in relation to these stories, and how you connect and belong within the ancient and contemporary narratives running through the exhibition. </p>
<p>It is a gift to Naarm: a physical and spiritual centre for reflection and communion and gathering, a showcase of the excellence of our First Nations artists and a demonstration of art itself as a political witness. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bark-ladies-how-womens-yolnu-bark-paintings-break-with-convention-and-embrace-artists-strong-personalities-174340">Bark Ladies: how women's Yolŋu bark paintings break with convention and embrace artists' strong personalities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Tracker</h2>
<p>A co-production between Australian Dance Theatre and Ilbijerri Theatre, Tracker is a remarkable piece of storytelling about Wiradjuri elder <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-31/aboriginal-police-sergeant-tracker-alec-riley-life-on-stage/101899924">Alec “Tracker” Riley</a>.</p>
<p>Riley worked with the NSW police for over 40 years solving crimes to great acclaim. He was the great, great uncle of director-choreographer Daniel Riley.</p>
<p>Blending contemporary dance, text, live music and a simple but effective 270-degree rotating set design of scenic painted curtains and greenery rigged around a circular ring, Tracker takes us deep into ancestral Country in the middle of the night.</p>
<p>Our protagonist (Ella Ferris) has travelled to reconnect with the spirit of her great great uncle prior to giving birth to her own child. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two dancers in blue light and denim clothes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tracker takes us deep into ancestral Country in the middle of the night.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pedro Greig/Rising</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She seeks to understand and uncover this piece of her past in order to keep her son safe. In doing so, she reveals how our access to the truths of these stories of cultural resilience are obscured and hidden by layers of history and colonialism. </p>
<p>As the remarkable stories of Tracker Riley’s success in finding missing children and bringing criminals to justice are revealed, three spirit guides appear (Tyrel Dulvarie, Rika Hamaguchi and Kaine Sultan-Babij). Their poetic and synergistic movements echo, enhance and articulate the searching nature of the story. </p>
<p>As the audience, we bear witness to this uncovering of a piece of our nation’s past. Throughout the work, we seek to understand how this extraordinary man successfully forged a path between ancient wisdom and colonial structures – yet received no pension at the time of his retirement. </p>
<p>This is a powerful and ambitious story, asking us to look more closely at history and what the past can reveal about today. </p>
<p><em>Jacky is at Arts Centre Melbourne until June 24. Shadow Spirit is at Flinders Street Station until July 30.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/60-years-of-the-australian-ballet-and-90-years-of-australian-ballet-identity-asks-us-to-reflect-on-australian-dance-today-203931">60 years of The Australian Ballet and 90 years of 'Australian' ballet: Identity asks us to reflect on Australian dance today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Austin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
My top three works situated witnessing as a political act. These works invite you to revisit what you thought you knew.
Sarah Austin, Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202395
2023-06-21T14:57:56Z
2023-06-21T14:57:56Z
Unicorns in southern Africa: the fascinating story behind one-horned creatures in rock art
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535542/original/file-20230704-21-a05eoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Images of one-horned rain-animals have been found in the northern parts of the Eastern Cape province.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy David M. Witelson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One-horned creatures are found in myths <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land/unicorns-west-and-east">around the world</a>. Although unicorns in different cultures have little to do with one another, they have multiple associations in European thought.</p>
<p>For example, the Roman natural historian Pliny the Elder <a href="https://mythicalcreatures.edwardworthlibrary.ie/unicorns/">wrote about unicorns</a> in the first century AD. The unicorn features in both <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/467642">medieval Christian</a> and <a href="https://www.theclanbuchanan.com/folklore">Celtic</a> beliefs, and is <a href="https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/the-unicorn-scotlands-national-animal#:%7E:text=With%20its%20white%20horse%2Dlike,strength%20of%20their%20healing%20power">Scotland’s national animal</a>. The unicorn’s prominence in European culture spread across the globe with colonisation. </p>
<p>In southern Africa, colonial European ideas encountered older indigenous beliefs about one-horned creatures. I’ve highlighted this in a recent research <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/revisiting-the-south-african-unicorn-rock-art-natural-history-and-colonial-misunderstandings-of-indigenous-realities/5875B2016D8EB1C598C95B21D720F862">article</a> about some of the region’s rock art.</p>
<h2>Unicorns in Africa?</h2>
<p>In the age of natural science, unicorns were gradually dismissed as mythical rather than biological creatures. But some thought that real animals with single horns might yet exist in the “unexplored wilds” of Africa.</p>
<p>A famous search for such evidence was carried out by the English traveller, writer and politician <a href="https://ulverstoncouncil.org.uk/education/sir-john-barrow-1764-1848/">Sir John Barrow (1764-1848)</a>. He’d heard rumours about “unicorns” from the colonists and local people he encountered on his southern African travels. </p>
<p>One of those rumours was that unicorns were depicted in the rock paintings made by the indigenous <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/San">San (Bushman)</a> inhabitants of the region. Barrow searched unsuccessfully for them. Then, in mountains in what’s now the Eastern Cape province, he found and copied an image of a unicorn (Figure 1).</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532936/original/file-20230620-26-qlotji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white drawing of the head and neck of a horse-like creature with a mane and one long pointed horn." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532936/original/file-20230620-26-qlotji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532936/original/file-20230620-26-qlotji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532936/original/file-20230620-26-qlotji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532936/original/file-20230620-26-qlotji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532936/original/file-20230620-26-qlotji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532936/original/file-20230620-26-qlotji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532936/original/file-20230620-26-qlotji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1. Barrow’s unicorn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">After the image published by Barrow</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But many were sceptical of his claims. His published copy resembles a European engraving rather than a San rock painting. More generally, critics have argued that rock paintings of unicorns were probably inspired by side-on views of <a href="https://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_oryx.html">gemsbok or South African oryxes</a> – antelope with long, straight horns – or by <a href="https://www.helpingrhinos.org/5-species-of-rhino/">rhinos</a> (which might have one horn in India, but have two in southern Africa).</p>
<p>My research concludes that these criticisms don’t take into account several factors that have since come to light. My paper provides further support for the <a href="https://www.magzter.com/stories/Animals-and-Pets/Farmers-Weekly/The-Search-For-The-South-African-Unicorn">claims</a> that some San rock paintings do indeed depict one-horned creatures.</p>
<h2>Multiple rock art depictions</h2>
<p>Early documented rock paintings of one-horned creatures are known from <a href="http://www.sarada.co.za/#/library/stow/images/IZI-GWS-01-25D">19th</a> and <a href="http://www.sarada.co.za/#/library/tongue/images/IZI-HT-01-71HC">20th</a> century copies by British geologist <a href="https://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=2746">George Stow</a> and South African teacher <a href="https://www.aluka.org/heritage/partner/XSTTONGUE">M. Helen Tongue</a>.</p>
<p>I draw attention to additional examples of rock paintings of one-horned creatures (Figures 2 and 3). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532953/original/file-20230620-5458-5u3n7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rock art painting showing buck and fish." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532953/original/file-20230620-5458-5u3n7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532953/original/file-20230620-5458-5u3n7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532953/original/file-20230620-5458-5u3n7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532953/original/file-20230620-5458-5u3n7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532953/original/file-20230620-5458-5u3n7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532953/original/file-20230620-5458-5u3n7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532953/original/file-20230620-5458-5u3n7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 2. A pair of spotted one-horned animals surrounded by fish.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David M. Witelson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Collectively, these show that rock paintings of one-horned creatures can’t be dismissed as naturalistic profile views of two-horned creatures, one horn covering the other.</p>
<h2>Rain-animals</h2>
<p>The second way in which my research engages with early criticisms is to draw attention to previously overlooked indigenous beliefs concerning one-horned beings.</p>
<p>The evidence suggests that the “unicorns” in indigenous mythical beliefs and rock art are actually animal-like forms of rain, known as rain-animals.</p>
<p>Tongue’s colleague and co-worker, <a href="http://lloydbleekcollection.cs.uct.ac.za/researchers.html">Dorothea Bleek</a>, compared Stow’s and Tongue’s copies and <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Bushman_Paintings_Copied_by_M_Helen_Tong.html?id=9HPVxAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">suggested</a> in 1909 that rock paintings of one-horned antelope were probably kinds of rain-animals, which she knew from <a href="http://lloydbleekcollection.cs.uct.ac.za/">|Xam San (Bushman) myths</a>.</p>
<p>Rain-animals feature prominently in <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/492703532">San ritual, myth and art</a>. They take many forms, ranging from <a href="http://www.sarada.co.za/#/library/rain/images/RARI-RSA-FLO3-1R">four-legged creatures</a> to <a href="http://www.sarada.co.za/#/library/serpent/images/RARI-RSA-WAD1-2R">serpents</a>. They were ritually captured and slaughtered by San rainmakers to cause rain to fall in specific places. <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924029904830">Many |Xam myths</a> tell of the dangerous male rain, sometimes personified as the “Rain”, who turned pubescent girls and their families into frogs when the girls did not correctly observe their initiation taboos.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532954/original/file-20230620-25-yb22k8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white drawing of a buck with one horn, behind it three other buck heads emerge." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532954/original/file-20230620-25-yb22k8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532954/original/file-20230620-25-yb22k8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532954/original/file-20230620-25-yb22k8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532954/original/file-20230620-25-yb22k8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532954/original/file-20230620-25-yb22k8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532954/original/file-20230620-25-yb22k8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532954/original/file-20230620-25-yb22k8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 3. Digital drawing of original rock painting near the town of Dordrecht.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David M. Witelson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Among other details, my paper highlights a fascinating and previously missed reference to a one-horned water creature. In one of the variants of a <a href="http://lloydbleekcollection.cs.uct.ac.za/stories/748/index.html">story</a> told by <a href="http://lloydbleekcollection.cs.uct.ac.za/xam.html">|Han≠kass’o or Klein Jantje</a> – a |Xam man who was an expert storyteller – a “water child” or juvenile rain-animal is said to have a single horn. The story was written down in phonetic script (to record the sounds of the San langauge) by <a href="http://lloydbleekcollection.cs.uct.ac.za/researchers.html">Lucy Lloyd</a> (Bleek’s aunt) and translated into English.</p>
<p>The girl in |Han≠kass’o’s story breaks the rules of her ritual puberty seclusion by going to a pond and catching (like fish) the children of the rain, which she cooks and eats. After a few times she struggles to catch another one: unlike the others, this last creature is <a href="http://lloydbleekcollection.cs.uct.ac.za/books/BC_151_A2_1_092/A2_1_92_07513.html">“a grown-up water”</a>.</p>
<p>We know what made it recognisably grown-up: unlike the others, it had a single horn that <a href="http://lloydbleekcollection.cs.uct.ac.za/books/BC_151_A2_1_092/A2_1_92_07513.html">poked out of the water</a>. We have, therefore, the actual |Xam San words (which translate as “horned rain-child”) used to describe this kind of rain-animal, which we find in the rock paintings in and around the Eastern Cape.</p>
<h2>An intersection of beliefs</h2>
<p>In the colonial period, indigenous people were exposed to European images of unicorns on crests, badges and buttons and through tales. In one of the <a href="https://archive.org/details/southafricacentu00barnuoft/page/76/mode/2up?q=unicorn">recorded instances</a>, indigenous people at the Cape saw the British royal coat of arms and commented on the unicorn in it. They recognised it as their “god”, but this description, translated into English from an unknown indigenous idiom, probably refers to the creature’s mythical nature rather than a genuine god-like status. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532973/original/file-20230620-23-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Buck with horns that point forward depicted in a rock painting with blue bodies and white spots." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532973/original/file-20230620-23-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532973/original/file-20230620-23-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532973/original/file-20230620-23-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532973/original/file-20230620-23-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532973/original/file-20230620-23-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532973/original/file-20230620-23-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532973/original/file-20230620-23-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 4. Rain-animals with horns that point up or curve forward at a site near Indwe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David M. Witelson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Foreign unicorn images may have gradually influenced local ones. Some rock paintings of one-horned creatures – dated by associated human figures in European dress to the colonial period – show horns pointing upward or forward (Figure 4) like the European unicorn, rather than backwards like antelopes, such as the eland (Figure 5), on which many rock paintings of one-horned rain-animals are modelled.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532972/original/file-20230620-27-3f4pm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A buck lying in the grass, its horns pointed up[wards and back." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532972/original/file-20230620-27-3f4pm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532972/original/file-20230620-27-3f4pm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532972/original/file-20230620-27-3f4pm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532972/original/file-20230620-27-3f4pm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532972/original/file-20230620-27-3f4pm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532972/original/file-20230620-27-3f4pm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532972/original/file-20230620-27-3f4pm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 5. The horns of the common eland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pxfuel</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One-horned animals depicted in rock art are not mere rhinos nor antelope, nor are they the creatures of European myth.</p>
<p>Indigenous beliefs help us to explain that the uncanny resemblance between European unicorns and South African “unicorns” was pure chance. The mixing of foreign beliefs with local ones in colonial South Africa has hidden the independent, indigenous creature.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202395/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David M. Witelson is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand's Rock Art Research Institute (RARI). He receives funding from RARI and the University's Faculty of Science. </span></em></p>
Some explorers believed they had found unicorns depicted on rocks. The truth behind the paintings is far more interesting.
David M. Witelson, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204746
2023-05-03T03:53:01Z
2023-05-03T03:53:01Z
What do white staff do in remote Indigenous art centres?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523758/original/file-20230502-26-4yj7mk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C3000%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In April, The Australian <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/aboriginal-art-from-the-apy-lands-at-centre-of-stunning-whitewash-claims/news-story/db2eebb52430ad985710869b81f8193b">published</a> the results of a four-month investigation into white staff “interference” at Tjala Arts, a member of the APY Arts Centre Collective of Indigenous art centres across South Australia. </p>
<p>It included a video of an art centre manager painting on Yaritji Young’s canvas, to “juice it up” a bit. </p>
<p>The ongoing media commentary has been divisive and confusing. One question it raises is what do art managers and studio assistants actually do in remote Indigenous community art centres?</p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-848" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/848/7b770acb2538b28093fd57e3a87c6e2f33d0e625/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<h2>50 years of arts centres</h2>
<p>Remote art centres are central to today’s internationally successful Indigenous contemporary art industry. They typically have a white art centre manager and other staff overseen by an Indigenous board. </p>
<p><a href="https://papunyatula.com.au/">Papunya Tula Artists</a> in Central Australia, incorporated in 1972, is the common ancestor of the publicly funded art centre model.</p>
<p>Papunya Tula marked the transition from the paternalism of the mission era to Indigenous self-determination, supported by the establishment of the Aboriginal Arts Board. </p>
<p>On May 3 1973, a press release from Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s office <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/306950">announced</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Aboriginals have been given full responsibility for developing their own programs in the arts under a new Government policy to revitalise cultural activities through the Australian Council for the Arts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What followed was a revolution, led by and for Aboriginal artists, with non-Indigenous staff employed to mediate with the art world. </p>
<p>Today, this workforce are mostly young women with degrees in visual art or arts management. They operate in around 90 Aboriginal-owned collectives across remote Australia. Staff turnover is high, and recruitment is a perennial task. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/40-years-on-how-gough-whitlam-gave-indigenous-art-a-boost-19749">40 years on: how Gough Whitlam gave Indigenous art a boost </a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A cross-cultural thing</h2>
<p>The troubling fact is not that “Aboriginal art is a white thing”, as Aboriginal artist and activist Richard Bell <a href="http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/great/art/bell.html">famously declared</a> in 2002. Rather, Aboriginal art is “a cross-cultural thing”, bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous creative workers together.</p>
<p>Despite the shared goal and triumphs of the cultural industries in celebrating Indigenous art, the shadow of Australia’s colonisation is never far away.</p>
<p>The conditions in remote art centres have evolved since the 1970s, but the practicalities are essentially the same. Art centre staff support the artists socially, culturally and logistically to ensure artists are happy to create their work in a culturally safe space. </p>
<p>Staff also manage the external demands of the market, exhibition schedules, bureaucratic accountability (to funding bodies and institutions, for example) and advocacy.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1646666076535803904"}"></div></p>
<p>Studio assistance involves purchasing art materials, stretching and priming canvas, harvesting raw material such as ochre, bark or timber, as well as packing, freighting and distributing the work and travelling with artists to exhibitions. </p>
<p>The level of support depends on an individual artist’s needs. Art centres often include the elderly and artists with a disability. Some artists have a strong creative drive; some work slowly or inconsistently. </p>
<p>Whatever the art form, good work takes considerable time. Art production is frequently interrupted “mid-canvas” to attend to other business such as cultural events, funerals or medical treatment. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-art-is-it-a-white-thing-96921">Aboriginal art: is it a white thing?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A collaborative space?</h2>
<p>The APY Art Centre Collective management <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-22/claims-of-aboriginal-art-interference-at-apy-acc-create-dismay/102236264">strongly denied</a> allegations of any interference with the paintings or “the Tjukurrpa” (the Aṉangu term for their comprehensive spiritual belief system). Their website <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230423112637/https://www.apyartcentrecollective.com/">currently states</a> hands-on assistance, such as “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underpainting">underpainting</a>”, is common practice. </p>
<p>Selecting colours and mixing paint, priming and delegating canvases, washing brushes and general maintenance, as well as regular discussion and responsiveness to the art are all part of the studio assistant’s role. </p>
<p>Some aesthetic influence on the final product is only natural, but painting directly on the canvas is never part of the job description. Undeclared, many would consider it fraudulent.</p>
<p>In 1997, when I first went to work in a Western Desert art centre, the message from the artists was simple: sell our paintings, and be straight with us. </p>
<p>It was also clear the paintings offered for sale – to public institutions, knowledgeable collectors and souvenir buyers – would be of a certain standard. </p>
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<p>“Quality control” is an ambivalent term, but it is implied and expected in the job. </p>
<p>In 1996 Kathleen Petyarre won the lucrative Telstra Art Award for her painting Storm in Atnangkere Country II. It was <a href="https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/an-authentic-market-19990730-jl9w1">later revealed</a> she was “assisted” by her white partner. </p>
<p>Following an inquiry, Petyarre retained her rightful authorship of the work, but this prompted art centres to recognise “creative labour”, when delegated by the artist and particularly among family, as culturally accepted practice — which should be attributed accordingly. </p>
<p>The right to determine who gets to collaborate on artwork, and how, applies to artists worldwide. The studios of Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst are <a href="https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/the-world-of-artist-assistants-feature-november-2014">extreme examples</a> of art making being undertaken by studio assistants. So too, Aboriginal artists enjoy workshops with specialists in fields as varied as printmaking, bronze casting, animation or glassmaking. </p>
<p>It’s up to the artists first, and the institutions, curators, the market and art critics next, to evaluate such collaborations and exchanges case by case. </p>
<h2>Cultural narratives and daily realities</h2>
<p>A key role in art centres is “taking the story”. This is where art centre staff document the artist’s painting with a photo and the related Tjukurrpa or Country. </p>
<p>These “<a href="https://www.artslaw.com.au/information-sheet/certificates-of-authenticity-aitb">certificates of authenticity</a>” documenting culturally important stories guarantee the works as genuine Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander works. They also underpin the marketing, promotion and interpretation of many contemporary art exhibitions from remote communities. </p>
<p>It’s the disconnect between these purist cultural narratives and the realities of the busy cross-cultural studios that puts the artists, their staff and the entire industry in such a paradoxical position. </p>
<p>Trust and ethics lie at the heart of these working relationships. It’s impractical to create more rules and impossible to enforce the ways artists and staff interact in art centre settings, but it’s time to acknowledge these exchanges with a new story.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-buy-authentic-first-nations-designs-that-benefit-creators-and-communities-196290">How to buy authentic First Nations designs that benefit creators and communities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Una Rey is editor of Artlink. </span></em></p>
Remote art centres are central to the Indigenous contemporary art industry. They typically have a white art centre manager and other staff overseen by an Indigenous board.
Una Rey, Senior Industry Affiliate, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196290
2023-04-29T23:15:09Z
2023-04-29T23:15:09Z
How to buy authentic First Nations designs that benefit creators and communities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523366/original/file-20230428-20-ozwuvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C1196%2C614&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warlukurlangu Artists</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From souvenir shops to art galleries, First Nations designs are big business. Australia’s Productivity Commission estimates about <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/indigenous-arts/report">$250 million</a> of Indigenous-style art and consumer products are sold annually. But just 16% of that ends up in the hands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. </p>
<p>When it comes to Indigenous-style souvenirs, the commission says about 75% aren’t authentic. The art market is a little better, but fakes are prevalent enough for one to have appeared in comedian Ricky Gervais’ sit-com <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/ricky-gervais-fake-aboriginal-art-is-not-a-prop-its-cultural-theft/w5yvdkf70">Afterlife</a>.</p>
<p>To support First Nations artists and communities, here’s what you need to know, and need to ask, before buying.</p>
<h2>Home is where the art is</h2>
<p>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art is more than aesthetically pleasing shapes and colours. It is a cultural expression, a means of passing information from one generation to the next, of telling stories. </p>
<p>These stories may be about sacred knowledge and dreamings specific to an individual, a family or a community – stories not culturally permissible for others to tell. Those stories share commonalities but also differ according to place – plants, animals, customs and laws.</p>
<p>Each of Australia’s more than 200 Indigenous nation groups – comprised of clans that share a common language and kinship systems – will use designs, colours and materials related to place. </p>
<p>Dot painting, for example, is specific to the desert interior of Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dot painting by an artist from Yuendumu, about 300 km northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://warlu.com/">Warlukurlangu Artists</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cross-hatching and “x-ray” paintings come from Arnhem Land in north-east Northern Territory.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Arnhem Land artist Glen Namundja at work in 2014." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arnhem Land artist Glen Namundja at work in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Roy/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Depictions of “Wandjina” spirits come from the Kimberley coast in northern Western Australia. The Wandjina are the most <a href="https://japingkaaboriginalart.com/articles/wandjina/">powerful creation spirits</a>, symbolising rain. They are often depicted with bodies of dots, representing rainfall.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Wandjina rock art near the Barnett River, in the Kimberley, north Western Australia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wandjina rock art near the Barnett River, in the Kimberley, north Western Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graeme Churchard/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ochre pigments, derived from soil, are used across the east Kimberley, Arnhem Land and central Northern Territory.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Art for sale at the Warmun Art Centre in the east Kimberley." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Art for sale at the Warmun Art Centre in the east Kimberley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bo Wong/West Australian Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any authentic piece of Indigenous art tells a story. Before you buy, get to know that story.</p>
<h2>What’s the story?</h2>
<p>There’s one simple rule when buying First Nations art or crafts: the more information the better. </p>
<p>Artists have two main ways to sell their art. For original art, it’s through a gallery, which takes a hefty commission. If it’s a design on a product, licensing is more common: the artist gives permission for the reproduction of their work in exchange for a one-off payment or an ongoing commission, usually linked to sales.</p>
<p>In either case, a legitimate gallery or licensee has a vested interest in assuring you of the authenticity of what they are selling, and that the artist is benefiting from your purchase. </p>
<p>They should be able to provide you with:</p>
<ul>
<li>the artist’s name and biography, including their language or nations group </li>
<li>evidence of the work’s authenticity, such as photographs of the artist at work</li>
<li>how they pay the artist, and how much</li>
<li>evidence of commitment to efforts to improve the industry, such as the <a href="https://indigenousartcode.org/">Indigenous Art Code</a>.</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hilda Nakamarra Rogers, a member of the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hilda Nakamarra Rogers, a member of the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warlukurlangu Artists</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If there’s no information on who created an artwork and where they’re from, it is most likely fake. </p>
<p>In short: buy from sellers with transparent policies. On their website and in person they should provide clear information on all of the above. Reluctance to share this information is a red flag. </p>
<h2>Look for community connections</h2>
<p>Galleries and other intermediaries may be Indigenous or non-Indigenous-owned. They may be private for-profit businesses or community-owned. </p>
<p>Private businesses can be highly ethical and reinvest in their community, but there is greater assurance of this happening with collectively owned businesses established specifically for the benefit of local artists, to employ local people and fund community projects.</p>
<p>An example is the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, a not-for-profit company owned by artists from the Yuendumu community in the Northern Territory, about 300 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs. Founded in 1985, the company uses its surpluses to fund community <a href="https://warlu.com/community-projects/">projects</a> such as <a href="https://warlu.com/community-projects/health-projects/">a health program</a> and a <a href="https://warlu.com/community-projects/dog-program/">dog program</a>, which cares for the local dog population.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="At work at the Warlukurlangu Artists art centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At work at the Warlukurlangu Artists art centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warlukurlangu Artists</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/indigenousarts/report/c04">more than 100</a> such independently governed First Nations art and craft centres in Australia, including umbrella organisations in the following areas:</p>
<ul>
<li>Western Australia: the <a href="https://aachwa.com.au/art-and-art-centres/">Aboriginal Art Centre Hub of Western Australia</a></li>
<li>Central Australia: <a href="https://desart.com.au/member-art-centres/">Desart</a>. </li>
<li>Northern Australia from the Kimberley to Arnhem land: <a href="https://anka.org.au/art-centres/anka-art-centres">Arnhem, Northern and Kimberley Artists</a>. </li>
<li>Far-north Queenland: <a href="https://iaca.com.au/">Indigenous Art Centre Alliance</a>. </li>
<li>APY lands of north-west South Australia: <a href="https://www.apyartcentrecollective.com/about">APY Art Centre Collective</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-white-staff-do-in-remote-indigenous-art-centres-204746">What do white staff do in remote Indigenous art centres?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Art centres sell online. They may have arrangements to sell artwork through commercial galleries nearer population hotspots. They may also license art for use on <a href="https://www.alpersteindesigns.com.au/blogs/news/alperstein-designs-x-ngarga-warendj-ip-and-collaborations">homeware and souvenirs</a>.</p>
<p>In the wider market for First Nations designs and products, look for evidence of Indigenous ownership, commitment to compensate artists, and other evidence of community engagement. Most First Nations-run businesses are proud to acknowledge their heritage. </p>
<p>There is a federal scheme, called <a href="https://supplynation.org.au/">Supply Nation</a>, that verifies Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses. But because it is focused on government and commercial procurement it has few listings for arts, craft and design business. </p>
<p>So use your best judgement. Ask the right questions, expect full answers.</p>
<h2>What about product certification?</h2>
<p>What about certifying products? This is done for <a href="https://australianmade.com.au/?gclid=CjwKCAjwl6OiBhA2EiwAuUwWZTKV0kbaLgQvNGKBhXNkoX2PhKf8IkpuvIMccdHa5ijSWjUQMDrTixoCIYQQAvD_BwE">Australian Made</a> goods. Why not for First Nations-made products?</p>
<p>The problem, according to the Productivity Commission, is that certification schemes need high producer take-up and high consumer recognition to succeed. That would require resources the artists don’t have. </p>
<p>The commission has recommended an alternative approach: mandatory labelling of inauthentic products, through amending the <a href="https://consumer.gov.au/">Australian Consumer Law</a>.</p>
<p>It <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/indigenous-arts/report">has also recommended</a> new “cultural rights” legislation, giving traditional owners control over cultural assets such as stories, symbols and motifs, with power to take legal action over the infringement of their rights.</p>
<p>So far, however, the federal government has given no indication of if and when it will act on these recommendations.</p>
<p>Until it does, and there are more legal protections and clear labelling – of fake or authentic good – take the time to ask the right questions and get the right answers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labelling-fake-art-isnt-enough-australia-needs-to-recognise-and-protect-first-nations-cultural-and-intellectual-property-187426">Labelling 'fake art' isn't enough. Australia needs to recognise and protect First Nations cultural and intellectual property</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola St John receives funding from The Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Government's principal arts investment, development and advisory body. She also consults to Solid Lines, Australia's only First Nations led illustration agency. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emrhan Sultan has received funding from The Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Government's principal arts investment, development, and advisory body. Emrhan is the co-founder and manager of Solid Lines, Australia's only First Nations led illustration agency.</span></em></p>
There’s one simple rule when buying First Nations art or crafts: the more information the better.
Nicola St John, Lecturer, Communication Design, RMIT University
Emrhan Sultan, Researcher, RMIT School of Design, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201782
2023-03-22T04:12:01Z
2023-03-22T04:12:01Z
‘Cultural expression through dress’: towards a definition of First Nations fashion
<p>This May, Wiradjuri woman Denni Francisco and her label Ngali will be the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/mar/21/australian-fashion-week-2023-denni-francisco-to-be-first-indigenous-designer-to-hold-solo-show">first Indigenous designer</a> to have a solo show at Australian Fashion Week. </p>
<p>This is a long time coming for the First Nations fashion industry and the designers and artists who have laboured in the fashion space for many years.</p>
<p>In 2003, Dharug woman Robyn Caughlan was the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/robyn-has-fashion-game-all-sewn-up-20030426-gdgnsm.html">first Indigenous designer</a> to show her ready-to-wear collection at Australian Fashion Week. Over the past 20 years, many Indigenous designers have shown their work in group shows. Francisco’s solo show is an important step forward for the industry.</p>
<p>But First Nations fashion is not just about the catwalk. It is a politically charged practice. We need to have a discussion on what we mean when we say “First Nations fashion”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-indigenous-fashion-designers-are-taking-control-and-challenging-the-notion-of-the-heroic-lone-genius-121041">How Indigenous fashion designers are taking control and challenging the notion of the heroic, lone genius</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is ‘fashion’?</h2>
<p>During the European colonial reign from 1788 into the 1860s, Australian administrators were shocked at the appearance of Indigenous populations, often <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_121066/maynard_blankets.pdf?dsi_version=f1a1ebf590935fd50bfc2c57163abcff&Expires=1679467717&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=KsMMfEdTXMp2VlzeMt%7EZYgdxiVudEaDZbVvjNS8xdgK%7EJg4kePDuST82eTrVQeOIljYIGJ6FxiF4sa6J8Y89I9kJqTpLnidnTO2AJTomxsOeg%7EcpSNHWEqZN0xvpjFHcfyQt73CBkURfrxHajcdxXTCErdqs%7ExHdcK-nPLb68NC%7EHWAejnOVpPmZWv08k-JumxARkDh31tBjMKbYP4jabCFn0bxvT4t7i4897j0fUNu4LGmRYJZDard4gfWfakEhRhcAO1-A2%7EKNVYGJv6sYHBP05-VOrZUlo2aObFzBSHL4p0XIlkbaog2D0C3zWlXmUzfyqAcXMktlIxEO0IbtSw__">imposing new forms of clothing</a>. </p>
<p>To them, Indigenous peoples were generally seen as wearing insufficient, “unsophisticated” and “static” clothing. </p>
<p>From the 19th to early 20th century, sociologists argued only modern, urban societies <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1362704X.2020.1732022">like France</a> had a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/fashion-system">fashion “system”</a> of production, business and the trickle down of styles.</p>
<p>By the 1970s, UK and US researchers started to use the word <a href="http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/arts/alumni-and-associates/the-history-of-arts-education-in-brighton/fashion,-textiles-and-dress-history-a-personal-perspective-by-lou-taylor">“dress” instead of “fashion”</a> to connect wider forms of clothing, bodily and cultural practices.</p>
<p>“Fashion” has, however, been used as far back as the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110896107?">1970s</a> to describe Australia’s emerging First Nations textiles, garment and runway shows.</p>
<p>Recently, First Nations researchers in Canada and the United States <a href="https://youtu.be/KORH4l2-AO4">discussed</a> using “Indigenous fashion-art-and-dress” to describe First Nations clothing practices, fashion design and integration of art.</p>
<p>In Australia we have not yet had a conversation about a term that could encompass fashion design, textiles and art. Important First Nations fashion <a href="https://firstnationsfashiondesign.com/">associations</a>, <a href="https://www.ifp.org.au/">organisations</a>, <a href="https://www.mobinfashion.com.au/">groups</a>, and <a href="http://globalindigenousmanagement.com/indigenous-runway-project/">projects</a> have attempted their own terms and strategies.</p>
<p>We need a phrase which includes everything from wearing <a href="https://collection.maas.museum/object/363142">Aboriginal flag t-shirts</a> in the city, self-designed outfits in the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@abc/video/7200892542890577153">Tiwi Islands</a> and <a href="https://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/news/the-ngvs-first-indigenous-fashion-commission-is-an-ode-to-the-golden-age-of-couture/image-gallery/79e0b3a2bc42202ac407e99ef93574d1">commissioned garments</a> in galleries and museums. </p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-828" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/828/24ba342bc9440cb542892aef434942d5fdf0a74d/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Many First Nations designers are not designing for the fashion industry or galleries which sell their work as art. They are designing to break colonial bonds, share cultural stories, and provide a wearable form of wellbeing. </p>
<h2>A matter of style</h2>
<p>We have been exploring the words that Australian First Nations fashion researchers, designers, artists and producers use to describe their work and the industry.</p>
<p>The new millennium has motivated a great flowering of new First Nations designers and artists.</p>
<p>They describe themselves using words such as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lillardiabriggshouston/?hl=en">fashion designer</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/yarrabah/?hl=en">artist</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/simone_arnol/?hl=en">curator</a> and their work as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lyn_al/?hl=en">fashion and art</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/_myrrdah_/?hl=en">fashion labels</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CeNfJ5vv8jA","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>They variously describe their work as being Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or First Nations owned, or specifically emphasise their cultural Nations and groups.</p>
<p>Artist <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/108051/1/Elisa_Carmichael_Thesis.pdf">Elisa Jane Carmichael</a> (Quandamooka) calls <a href="https://koorihistory.com/traditional-aboriginal-clothing/">traditional and cultural clothing and adornment</a> “the first creations of Australian fashion”. </p>
<p>Writer Tristen Harwood (First Nations) has written about the difference between <a href="https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4897/walkabout-style-dreams-and-visions-of-indigenous-f/">“style” and “fashion”</a>. He defines First Nations fashion as the marketing and buying of Indigenous designed fashions. By style, Harwood means the dynamic process of dressing that touches on identity, politics, self-creation and culture.</p>
<p>Style is about wearing attire, in all its complexity, and includes the long history from <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/missions-stations-and-reserves">forced clothing</a> to the <a href="https://mpavilion.org/program/untold-possum-skin-cloaks-reawakening-and-revitalising/">revival of cultural garments</a> and looks. </p>
<p>This distinction between fashion and style also informs <a href="https://magpiegoose.com/">Magpie Goose</a> co-owner and director <a href="https://aiatsis.library.link/portal/A-brief-redress-of-Indigenous-fashion-in/6rejKvEbLx8/">Amanda Hayman</a> (Kalkadoon and Wakka Wakka). She notes how “Aboriginal cultural identity was systematically repressed” from the early 1800s to the late 1960s. With this repression, she argues, “cultural expression through dress was significantly impacted”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpo4bUyLsyH","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Now, a new generation of fashion figures such as teacher and designer <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1362704X.2020.1800991">Charlotte Bedford</a> (Wiradjuri), National Gallery of Victoria curator <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/infs_00067_7">Shanae Hobson</a> (Kaantju) and @ausindigenousfashion founder and curator <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/infs_00067_7">Yatu Widders Hunt</a> (Dunghutti and Anaiwan) prefer the terms “Indigenous fashion” or “First Nations fashion”.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>While there is a <a href="https://indigenousx.com.au/appropriate-terminology-for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people-its-complicated/">wide range of terminologies</a> and languages used within the First Nations fashion sector, it is time for a bigger discussion about a collective and holistic term. </p>
<p>By embracing a holistic term, First Nations fashion would have a new and inclusive definition. It could acknowledge both traditional and contemporary practices of our First Nations peoples, including the role of artists, and encompass everything from fashion runways to creating garments for galleries, as well as everyday First Nations style.</p>
<p>First Nations fashion is political. If you dig deep into fashion stories you will also hear many tales about racism, exclusion and discrimination, as well as <a href="https://oursonglines.com/blog/knowing-where-to-shop-for-survival-day">survival</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/ng-interactive/2020/nov/19/indigenous-fashion-is-the-future-its-time-for-first-nations-people-to-reclaim-it">healing</a>. </p>
<p>We are moving into a new chapter of <a href="https://www.firstpeoplesvic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/tt-faqs.pdf">truth telling</a> and the sharing of how racism and discrimination have influenced First Nations clothing practices and the fashion industry.</p>
<p>In landing on a collective term we might better represent First Nations peoples’ fashion, art and style stories as well as their community, cultural and design contributions – the business of fashion in Australia itself.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-fashion-week-toronto-designers-are-showcasing-resistance-and-resurgence-151016">Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto designers are showcasing resistance and resurgence</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Treena Clark has received funding through the University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship scheme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil has received funding from Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney.</span></em></p>
Wiradjuri woman Denni Francisco will be the first Indigenous designer to have a solo show at Australian Fashion Week.
Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199683
2023-02-22T19:05:05Z
2023-02-22T19:05:05Z
Returning a name to an artist: the work of Majumbu, a previously unknown Australian painter
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509932/original/file-20230214-28-slyox6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C3968%2C1336&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Large painting of a crocodile attributed to Majumbu along with two child hand stencils.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph courtesy of the Melbourne Museum, object 019930, object size 2.94m by 1.03m</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Arnhem Land rock and bark paintings have fascinated people across the world since the early 1800s. Rock art was <a href="https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/news/cave_art_paintings.php?number=1&start_from=128&category=6">first recorded</a> by Matthew Flinders and his onboard artist William Westall at Chasm Island in January 1803 while they were circumnavigating Australia. </p>
<p>In the early to mid-1800s, there was interest in Arnhem Land paintings on sheets of bark used to form hut-like shelters by visitors to Port Essington. In the late 1800s, some visitors to Arnhem Land collected barks for museums.</p>
<p>The names and stories of the individuals who made most Aboriginal rock art and the earliest collected bark paintings are not known. </p>
<p>We have recently begun to address this. We have identified various artists <a href="https://theconversation.com/paddy-compass-namadbara-for-the-first-time-we-can-name-an-artist-who-created-bark-paintings-in-arnhem-land-in-the-1910s-180243">who made early bark paintings</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-dads-painting-is-hiding-in-secret-place-how-aboriginal-rock-art-can-live-on-even-when-gone-157315">recent rock paintings</a>.</p>
<p>Today, in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2023.2177949">Australian Archaeology</a>, we announce the identification of another artist, Majumbu, also known as “Old Harry”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/paddy-compass-namadbara-for-the-first-time-we-can-name-an-artist-who-created-bark-paintings-in-arnhem-land-in-the-1910s-180243">Paddy Compass Namadbara: for the first time, we can name an artist who created bark paintings in Arnhem Land in the 1910s</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Painting in Oenpelli</h2>
<p>From 1912, anthropologist Baldwin Spencer and buffalo-shooter Paddy Cahill collected 163 bark paintings at Oenpelli (now Gunbalanya), Arnhem Land, near present-day Kakadu. </p>
<p>We used Cahill’s and Spencer’s notebooks and letters that identify a clan patriarch “Old Harry” as an artist who painted one of the spirit bark paintings and another, now missing, with three fish.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509925/original/file-20230213-24-w5i76x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509925/original/file-20230213-24-w5i76x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509925/original/file-20230213-24-w5i76x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509925/original/file-20230213-24-w5i76x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509925/original/file-20230213-24-w5i76x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509925/original/file-20230213-24-w5i76x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1719&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509925/original/file-20230213-24-w5i76x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1719&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509925/original/file-20230213-24-w5i76x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1719&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bark painting of a male human-like figure that only ‘Old Harry’ could see according to Paddy Cahill, made in 1914 and part of the Spencer-Cahill Collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by P. Taçon, Melbourne Museum, object 26381, object size 1.695m by 0.750m</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By scouring ethnographic records and constructing genealogies, we realised Old Harry’s Aboriginal name was Majumbu, and he also made rock paintings.</p>
<p>We analysed Majumbu’s characteristic art style from the known spirit bark painting and looked for evidence of the same features in the rest of the collection, identifying a further five paintings as well as another overseas.</p>
<p>With Aboriginal research partners, including two of Majumbu’s great grandchildren, we reviewed the paintings held in the Melbourne Museum and identified some of Majumbu’s known rock paintings to confirm him as the artist behind six of the works in Melbourne Museum’s collection of barks, and a seventh in the Museé du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, in Paris. </p>
<h2>A majestic sight</h2>
<p>Cahill established Oenpelli near the East Alligator River as a base camp settlement in 1910, employing Aboriginal people for buffalo hunting and agriculture.</p>
<p>Spencer first encountered bark paintings in July 1912 during his two-month stay with Cahill at the Oenpelli homestead. Spencer described in his notebooks the very positive impression the barks made on him and also commissioned a series of works from some of the most skilled artists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509926/original/file-20230213-28-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509926/original/file-20230213-28-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509926/original/file-20230213-28-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509926/original/file-20230213-28-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509926/original/file-20230213-28-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509926/original/file-20230213-28-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509926/original/file-20230213-28-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509926/original/file-20230213-28-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1912 Baldwin Spencer photograph ‘Gembio Family, Man with Six Wives’ believed to be Majumbu and his family.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph courtesy of the Melbourne Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Majumbu and his family were Kunwinjku language speakers from an area east of Oenpelli. He and his six wives and several children were frequent visitors to Oenpelli.</p>
<p>Majumbu was described by visiting journalist Elsie Masson in 1913 as a “grey-bearded warrior” who</p>
<blockquote>
<p>was a majestic sight, as he stalked, tall, gaunt, and solemn, across the yard, with his small son and heir perched high on his shoulders.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509924/original/file-20230213-26-74bn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509924/original/file-20230213-26-74bn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509924/original/file-20230213-26-74bn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509924/original/file-20230213-26-74bn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509924/original/file-20230213-26-74bn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509924/original/file-20230213-26-74bn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509924/original/file-20230213-26-74bn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509924/original/file-20230213-26-74bn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photograph of man said to be Old Harry (Majumbu) and his family by Elsie Masson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph courtesy of the Pitt Rivers Museum, object 1998.306.60, 1913</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Distinctive features</h2>
<p>Majumbu’s artwork has distinctive stylistic features. </p>
<p>The bark paintings we identified all have similar hatch infill (<em><a href="https://redkangaroogallery.com.au/blogs/news/cross-hatching-or-rarrk-painting">rarrk</a></em>) which features gently curving parallel lines of varying thickness. This is characteristic of Majumbu’s style, but not of other bark or rock artists from the area who painted parallel hatch lines of uniform thickness.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509935/original/file-20230214-18-qm8f5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509935/original/file-20230214-18-qm8f5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509935/original/file-20230214-18-qm8f5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1608&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509935/original/file-20230214-18-qm8f5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509935/original/file-20230214-18-qm8f5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1608&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509935/original/file-20230214-18-qm8f5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=2021&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509935/original/file-20230214-18-qm8f5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=2021&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509935/original/file-20230214-18-qm8f5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=2021&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kulunglatji (Kunwinjku) bark painting of a spirit called Mununlimbir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph courtesy of the Melbourne Museum, object 019921, registered on 22 September 1914; object size is 1.845m by 0.830m</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the human-like figures in Majumbu’s paintings have an extra digit on their hands. He also often painted an X on hands and feet of human-like and some animal figures. </p>
<p>When eyes are shown, they are on stalks or are represented as rectangles. Human-like figures have diamond patterning for some of their infill and there is a central division of limbs and bodies.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509939/original/file-20230214-28-uzhs0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509939/original/file-20230214-28-uzhs0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509939/original/file-20230214-28-uzhs0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509939/original/file-20230214-28-uzhs0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509939/original/file-20230214-28-uzhs0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509939/original/file-20230214-28-uzhs0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1746&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509939/original/file-20230214-28-uzhs0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1746&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509939/original/file-20230214-28-uzhs0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1746&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nuojorabipi, the ‘Debil-Debil’ that eats the flesh of dead natives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph courtesy of the Melbourne Museum, object 020055, registered on 22 September 1914, object size 1.414m by 0.775m</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The largest bark in the Melbourne Museum’s Spencer-Cahill Collection is dominated by a painting of a crocodile that measures 2.94 metres by 1.03 metres. It is almost identical to a rock painting known to have been painted by Majumbu in a rock shelter where his family regularly camped.</p>
<p>With Gunbalanya community members, we relocated his crocodile rock painting in September 2022. The crocodile is significant because of the key role they play in regional ceremonies. </p>
<p>As with the spirit being paintings, it reaffirms Majumbu’s connection to his traditional land.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509933/original/file-20230214-28-ysqkey.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509933/original/file-20230214-28-ysqkey.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509933/original/file-20230214-28-ysqkey.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509933/original/file-20230214-28-ysqkey.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509933/original/file-20230214-28-ysqkey.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509933/original/file-20230214-28-ysqkey.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509933/original/file-20230214-28-ysqkey.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509933/original/file-20230214-28-ysqkey.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gunbalanya community members below Majumbu’s rock painting of a crocodile after re-finding the Djimuban rock shelter on September 26 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by P. Taçon.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Priceless heritage</h2>
<p>We are indebted to the early bark painters of western Arnhem Land for creating such an extraordinary assemblage of paintings, and to Baldwin Spencer and Paddy Cahill for recognising their importance and having the foresight to collect them at a time when Aboriginal art was not valued by outsiders.</p>
<p>We are now able to learn about some of the Aboriginal artists behind this collection, their families and their lives, adding new life and significance to these early bark paintings not only for interested people across the globe but also for the artists’ descendants, most of whom still live at Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) today.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-dads-painting-is-hiding-in-secret-place-how-aboriginal-rock-art-can-live-on-even-when-gone-157315">'Our dad's painting is hiding, in secret place': how Aboriginal rock art can live on even when gone</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul S.C.Taçon receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Jalandoni receives funding from Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joakim Goldhahn receives funding from Rock Art Australia and The Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Taylor receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally K. May receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth Mangiru does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Majumbu’s work sits in the Melbourne Museum, but until now he has not been named as the artist.
Paul S.C.Taçon, Chair in Rock Art Research and Director of the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU), Griffith University
Andrea Jalandoni, Research Fellow, Griffith University
Joakim Goldhahn, Rock Art Australia Ian Potter Kimberley Chair, The University of Western Australia
Kenneth Mangiru, Danek Senior Traditional Owner, Indigenous Knowledge
Luke Taylor, Adjunct Fellow, Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit, Griffith University
Sally K. May, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199091
2023-02-03T03:55:09Z
2023-02-03T03:55:09Z
It’s tradition: Indigenous designs have been on Australian money since decimalisation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508024/original/file-20230203-295-7racqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C328%2C4992%2C2488&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Indigenous Australians are respectfully advised that the following includes the names and images of some people who are now deceased.</em></p>
<p>The Reserve Bank of Australia <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2023/mr-23-02.html">has announced</a> that Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait on Australia’s $5 banknote will not be replaced by one of Charles III (as is happening in the <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/king-charles-banknotes">United Kingdom</a>). It will instead <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2023/mr-23-02.html">show a design</a> that “honours the culture and history of the First Australians”. </p>
<p>While some will complain this is a break from the tradition of the reigning monarch’s head being on the lowest-denomination banknote, that has only been the case in Australia since 1966, when decimal currency was introduced. </p>
<p>Before that, navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders appeared on the lowest (ten shilling) note. The queen was on the pound note (equal to 20 shillings). </p>
<p>The Reserve Bank of Australia consulted the federal government, which supports the change, but the decision is its own. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/voters-want-australians-of-note-on-the-next-5-not-king-charles-20221014-p5bpr1.html">opinion poll</a> last year indicated just 34% of Australians wanted to see King Charles replace his mother on the $5 note, with 43% preferring another person, such as a famous Australian, and 23% undecided. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/putting-king-charles-iii-on-british-currency-bucks-a-global-trend-to-honor-diverse-national-heroes-on-coins-and-bills-191487">Putting King Charles III on British currency bucks a global trend to honor diverse national heroes on coins and bills</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What will the new design show?</h2>
<p>Will the design honour an Indigenous individual, or a group, or First Nations people more generally? It will likely be several years before we know.</p>
<p>Banknote design is complex, and the central bank will need to consult widely and deeply with Indigenous Australians to avoid the cultural insensitivities that have marred previous efforts to depict Indigenous motifs or individuals. </p>
<p>What we do know is the note’s other side will show an image of Parliament House, as it does now. The current design includes the Forecourt Mosaic, which is based on Michael Nelson Jagamara’s work <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/03/10/pioneering-indigenous-artist-kumantje-nelson-jagamara-remembered-in-alice-springs/">Possum and Wallaby Dreaming</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Australia's parliament house will continue to feature on one side of the next $5 banknote." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508015/original/file-20230203-22-7racqb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508015/original/file-20230203-22-7racqb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508015/original/file-20230203-22-7racqb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508015/original/file-20230203-22-7racqb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508015/original/file-20230203-22-7racqb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508015/original/file-20230203-22-7racqb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508015/original/file-20230203-22-7racqb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s parliament house will continue to feature on one side of the next $5 banknote.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RBA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A return to tradition</h2>
<p>While breaking with one “tradition”, an Indigenous motif on the lowest-denomination banknote restores another.</p>
<p>When decimal currency was introduced in 1966, the lowest-denomination banknote was the $1 note. One side featured a youthful Queen Elizabeth and the Australian coat of arms. The other showed an Indigenous design, based on bark painting by artist <a href="https://museum.rba.gov.au/exhibitions/hccoombs-and-first-australians/">David Malangi Daymirringu</a>, a Yolngu man from what is now northeastern Arnhem Land, and others.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The design of Australia' $1 note was based on work by artist [David Malangi Daymirringu." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507982/original/file-20230202-16591-3d58yn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507982/original/file-20230202-16591-3d58yn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507982/original/file-20230202-16591-3d58yn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507982/original/file-20230202-16591-3d58yn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507982/original/file-20230202-16591-3d58yn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507982/original/file-20230202-16591-3d58yn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507982/original/file-20230202-16591-3d58yn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The design of Australia’ $1 note was based on work by artist [David Malangi Daymirringu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RBA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Reserve Bank’s governor at the time was HC “Nugget” Coombs, a strong advocate for Indigenous Australians. But to his later embarrassment, it turned out no one at the bank thought to ask permission to copy the artworks used in the design – nor offer payment.</p>
<p>Only after the banknote was issued did an Adelaide newspaper report on the treatment of <a href="https://museum.rba.gov.au/exhibitions/hccoombs-and-first-australians/">Malangi</a>, who came to be known as “Dollar Dave”.</p>
<p>Coombs subsequently sought to make amends. Malangi was paid $1,000 (the same given to those whose art was used on other banknotes), a fishing kit and a special medallion Coombs commissioned. </p>
<p>The $1 note was phased out in 1984 (replaced by the $1 coin, showing a mob of kangaroos, in keeping with animal motifs on Australian coins). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dollar-dave-and-the-reserve-bank-a-tale-of-art-theft-and-human-rights-56593">'Dollar Dave' and the Reserve Bank: a tale of art, theft and human rights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>David Unaipon and the $50 note</h2>
<p>The first Australian banknote to honour an Indigenous individual was the $50 note in 1996, with the change from paper to polymer notes. </p>
<p>Portraits of scientists Howard Walter Florey and Sir Ian Clunies Ross were replaced by Australia’s first female parliamentarian, Edith Cowan, and <a href="https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/people-on-the-banknotes/david-unaipon/">David Unaipon</a>, a Ngarrindjeri man from what is now southeastern South Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="In 1996 Australia's $50 note became the first to honour an Indigenous individual, David Unaipon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507998/original/file-20230202-5680-evskvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507998/original/file-20230202-5680-evskvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507998/original/file-20230202-5680-evskvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507998/original/file-20230202-5680-evskvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507998/original/file-20230202-5680-evskvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507998/original/file-20230202-5680-evskvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507998/original/file-20230202-5680-evskvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1996 Australia’s $50 note became the first to honour an Indigenous individual, David Unaipon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RBA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unaipon (born in 1872) was a preacher, inventor and author. He was an expert in ballistics and <a href="https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/banknotes-in-circulation/fifty-dollar/">believed</a> the aerodynamics of the boomerang could be applied to aircraft. </p>
<p>His book, <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/legendary-tales-of-the-australian-aborigines-paperback-softback">Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals</a>, was the first by an Indigenous author to be published in Australia – though without credit (W. Ramsay Smith, SA’s chief medical officer, was listed as the author). The book was finally republished with Unaipon’s name on the cover in 2006.</p>
<h2>Gwoya Jungarai and the $2 coin</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Gwoya Jungarai on the $2 coin." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508019/original/file-20230203-24-49lq81.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508019/original/file-20230203-24-49lq81.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508019/original/file-20230203-24-49lq81.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508019/original/file-20230203-24-49lq81.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508019/original/file-20230203-24-49lq81.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508019/original/file-20230203-24-49lq81.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508019/original/file-20230203-24-49lq81.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gwoya Jungarai on the $2 coin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal Australian Mint</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first Australian coin to feature an Indigenous Australian was the <a href="https://www.ramint.gov.au/two-dollars">$2 coin</a> in 1988, showing Gwoya Jungarai (sometimes spelled Tjungurrayi). </p>
<p>Known as “One Pound Jimmy”, he was a survivor of the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/remembering-the-coniston-massacre/7lwdujx6n">Coniston Massacre</a> in the Northern Territory in 1928, when police killed at least 31 Warlpiri men, women and children. </p>
<p>This was a time when chief protectors were appointed to “<a href="https://researchdata.edu.au/chief-protector-aborigines/491514#:%7E:text=The%20Protector%20was%20to%20watch,Colony%20or%20the%20Chief%20protector.">watch over the interests</a>” of First Nations people, and to “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/40497593">smooth the dying pillow</a>” for a race of people who had been brought to the edge of extinction. </p>
<p>The image of Gwoya Jungarai came from a photo of him in 1935. This was used on a postage stamp in 1950, making him the first living Australian to be so featured. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/elder-lawman-survivor-stamp-research-is-the-latest-chapter-in-gwoja-tjungurrayis-remarkable-life-in-pictures-161437">Elder, lawman, survivor: stamp research is the latest chapter in Gwoja Tjungurrayi's remarkable life in pictures</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do other Commonwealth countries do?</h2>
<p>New Zealand has the Indigenous name of the country (Aotearoa) and its Reserve Bank (Te Pūtea Matua) on <a href="https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/money-and-cash/banknotes/banknotes-in-circulation">its notes</a>. This is feasible as there is one dominant Indigenous language, whereas in Australia there are hundreds. </p>
<p>One note (the <a href="https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/money-and-cash/banknotes/banknotes-in-circulation/50-banknote">$50</a>) honours a Māori individual <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3n5/ngata-apirana-turupa">Apirana Ngata</a>, the first Māori to graduate from a local university and a parliamentarian for 38 years. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Apirana Ngata on New Zealand's $50 note." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508003/original/file-20230203-22172-vb0e2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508003/original/file-20230203-22172-vb0e2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508003/original/file-20230203-22172-vb0e2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508003/original/file-20230203-22172-vb0e2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508003/original/file-20230203-22172-vb0e2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508003/original/file-20230203-22172-vb0e2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508003/original/file-20230203-22172-vb0e2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apirana Ngata on New Zealand’s $50 note..</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RBNZ</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canada’s <a href="https://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/bank-note-series/frontiers/50-polymer-note/">$50 note</a> includes the Inuit word for “Arctic”.</p>
<p>The Reserve Bank of Australia is a founding member of the international <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2021/mr-21-05.html">Central Bank Network for Indigenous Inclusion</a>, along with its peers in Canada and New Zealand. So there may be international discussion of the issues involved.</p>
<p>But the key to ensuring the design fulfils its potential to bring the country together and heal old wounds will be to consult with those whose culture and history the design is meant to honour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199091/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Hawkins used to work for the Reserve Bank of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wayne H Applebee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
While breaking with one “tradition”, an Indigenous motif on Australia’s $5 banknote will restore another.
John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra
Wayne H Applebee, PhD student lecturer in cultural studies, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196577
2023-01-25T20:23:47Z
2023-01-25T20:23:47Z
‘An activist masquerading as an artist’: we should all be talking about Richard Bell
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505747/original/file-20230123-38008-udnr26.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C45%2C7527%2C4977&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madman Entertainment</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: You Can Go Now, directed by Larissa Behrendt.</em></p>
<p>A new documentary from Larissa Behrendt, You Can Go Now, highlights the life, work and activism of Richard Bell: a self-described “activist masquerading as an artist”. </p>
<p>Bell is an internationally renowned artist who works across painting, installation, video and performance, describing himself as “bold, brash and brazen” in his approach to dealing with the art industry in Australia.</p>
<p>An array of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people appear in the documentary and chime in to reflect on their relationship with Bell and his work. </p>
<p>John Maynard muses Bell’s work is “just taking the piss: we love taking the piss out of white fellas”. He laughs.</p>
<p>Gary Foley speaks of Bell’s work as “beautifully subversive” and “satirical”. He smirks as he thinks about how Bell’s work shocks the straight-laced people in the Australian art scene. </p>
<p>Chelsea Watego describes Bell as someone who “knows no boundaries” and “is unashamedly and unapologetically Blak”. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wmcpg8lBK3g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-art-is-it-a-white-thing-96921">Aboriginal art: is it a white thing?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Bell’s early life</h2>
<p>Bell is a Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman, Gurang Gurang man born in 1953 in Charleville, Queensland. He grew up living in a “shanty” with his family. </p>
<p>In You Can Go Now, he recalls life as a child living in abject poverty. The film includes historical footage of life on missions and reserves, which demonstrates clearly the oppressive and invasive conditions Aboriginal people were forced to endure. </p>
<p>As Aileen Moreton Robinson comments in the documentary, as an Aboriginal person during this era “you understood you were not free”. </p>
<p>Indicative of the way Aboriginal people are treated, Bell’s family home was bulldozed by the government. His family relocated to the town to live in a house that had been issued with a demolition order and deemed unfit for human habitation. </p>
<p>The land missions and reserves were built on was increasingly being targeted for tourism and bought up by mining companies. Bell shares this experience in
his video work <a href="https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/richard-bell-embassy/richard-bell-no-tin-shack/">No Tin Shack</a>, which includes a re-enactment of the bulldozing of his family’s home to demonstrate the brutality of the act. </p>
<h2>Unapologetic Blak activism</h2>
<p>Bell is part of a generation of staunch Aboriginal activists. He has remained strong in his commitment to self-determination and to the goal of getting our land back. He claims in the documentary the government should give it all back, then negotiate with us. </p>
<p>In the early 1970s, inspired by the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in the United States, a new era of “unapologetic Blak” activism emerged in Australia – exemplified by the establishment of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-short-history-of-the-aboriginal-tent-embassy-an-indelible-reminder-of-unceded-sovereignty-174693">Aboriginal Tent Embassy</a> in 1972: the longest continual protest in the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505749/original/file-20230123-61764-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting: signs read 'we want land rights' and 'we walk on sacred land'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505749/original/file-20230123-61764-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505749/original/file-20230123-61764-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505749/original/file-20230123-61764-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505749/original/file-20230123-61764-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505749/original/file-20230123-61764-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505749/original/file-20230123-61764-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505749/original/file-20230123-61764-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bell’s work captures decades of continuing protest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madman Entertainment</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-short-history-of-the-aboriginal-tent-embassy-an-indelible-reminder-of-unceded-sovereignty-174693">A short history of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy – an indelible reminder of unceded sovereignty</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In this decade Bell found his political voice in Redfern with the likes of Sol Bellear, Gary Foley, Paul Coe and others. Along with fighting for land rights and self-determination, these activists established the Aboriginal Medical Service and Aboriginal Legal Service to provide much needed services to Aboriginal people.</p>
<p>In his work <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-02/richard-bell-tent-embassy-documenta-tate-london/101189166">Pay the Rent</a> (2022), presented at Germany’s Documenta, one of the world’s most prestigious art exhibitions, a digital counter provides a calculation of what the government owes Aboriginal people. </p>
<p>Also as part of this exhibition, Bell created paintings based on old photographs from the 1970s to bring to attention the work of political activists and the untold story of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/made-in-1972-the-documentary-ningla-ana-is-a-powerful-look-at-establishment-of-the-aboriginal-tent-embassy-191499">Black Liberation movement</a> in Australia.</p>
<p>After the <a href="https://youtu.be/WIPUvDZ5TJA">1967 Referendum</a> it became clear little had changed in regard to the circumstances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who still suffered under oppressive and racist regimes. </p>
<p>The McMahon government <a href="https://newmatilda.com/2014/10/21/among-our-prime-ministers-whitlam-stood-tall-land-rights/">declared</a> it would never grant land rights, quelling any hopes inspired by the referendum. </p>
<p>Reflecting the significance of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Bell’s <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/works/2017.10A-G/">Embassy</a> (2013–) has been shown in galleries around the world, showing archival videos and providing a space for the truth to be told via public talks and informal conversations.</p>
<h2>A man with two personas</h2>
<p>In You Can Go Now, Bell is described as having two personas – Richard and Richie. Richard, the one everyday Blackfullas know, good for a yarn and to hang out with. Then there is his other persona, Richie: the life of the party, an attention seeker. The one who is loud, boisterous and sometimes even obnoxious. </p>
<p>Behrendt captures Richie looking in the mirror as he states “no doubt about it Richie, you’re a fucking genius”. </p>
<p>Often referred to as a dissident, Richie claims all his paintings are attention seekers – just like him. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505750/original/file-20230123-52741-6h3ksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bell painting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505750/original/file-20230123-52741-6h3ksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505750/original/file-20230123-52741-6h3ksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505750/original/file-20230123-52741-6h3ksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505750/original/file-20230123-52741-6h3ksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505750/original/file-20230123-52741-6h3ksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505750/original/file-20230123-52741-6h3ksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505750/original/file-20230123-52741-6h3ksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bell claims his paintings are attention seekers – just like him.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madman Entertainment</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2019, Bell was shortlisted to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale. He was not ultimately selected. In response, Bell decided to “<a href="https://artguide.com.au/richard-bell-on-gate-crashing-the-venice-biennale/">gatecrash</a>” the biennale, creating a replica of the Australian Pavilion wrapped in chains. </p>
<p>Taking his own advice – “you don’t need permission to make it happen” – We Don’t Really Need This sailed past the 58th Biennale on a motorised barge.</p>
<p>In the film, musician Bob Weatherall notes Bell “has captivated the world” yet it is a very different story in Australia. </p>
<p>Bell is an internationally renowned artist invited to exhibit his work across the globe. Yet he has not found the same acclaim in Australia. Foley suggests his international standing is a really good slap in the face to the Australian arts establishment who have not recognised Bell in the same way the international market has embraced his work. </p>
<p>The documentary is entertaining and informative. While some may see it as confrontational, Bell’s work highlights histories that are unknown to some and should be known to all. Bell is highly critical, funny and fearless. The documentary is a must-see. </p>
<p><em>You Can Go Now is in Australian cinemas from January 26.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/protest-art-rallying-cry-or-elegy-for-the-black-throated-finch-120593">Protest art: rallying cry or elegy for the black-throated finch?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196577/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Carlson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Bell is an internationally renowned artist who works across painting, installation, video and performance, and a new documentary brings him to cinemas.
Bronwyn Carlson, Professor, Indigenous Studies and Director of The Centre for Global Indigenous Futures, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188721
2022-09-20T20:19:44Z
2022-09-20T20:19:44Z
How artists Judy Watson and Helen Johnson are stripping back Australia’s ‘white blanket of forgetfulness’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485217/original/file-20220919-63951-10pn2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C0%2C11290%2C7566&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Installation view,
Judy Watson & Helen
Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2022</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his 1980 Boyer Lecture, art historian Bernard Smith said a “white blanket of forgetfulness” had been thrown over the horrors of Australia’s colonial past. </p>
<p>Renowned Australian artists, Waanyi woman Judy Watson and second-generation Anglo immigrant Helen Johnson, have individually spent decades exposing these secrets by translating archival material into paintings, prints and installations. </p>
<p>In a new exhibition, the red thread of history, loose ends, they come together in a visual, and conceptual dialogue of reworked maps, cartoons, proclamations, records and correspondence. </p>
<p>Watson takes charge of the shocking historical material she exposes. No anger or outrage is evident, even though her emotionally charged paintings and installations deal with deaths in custody, genocide or indentured labour. </p>
<p>Instead, she overwrites these crimes and injustices by initiating communal artmaking processes with friends and family or layering them with indigenous plant life and motifs from her country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Johnson, System maintenance 2021–22 (front), synthetic polymer paint and pencil on unstretched canvas, double-sided. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By contrast, there is an urgency to Johnson’s work. The shocking words in the texts she exposes spill out unedited across large canvases. </p>
<p>Multiple layers are built up with complex textures of raked paint, masking and interpretations of images sourced from archives. The surfaces are then cut and pealed back to reveal hidden and intersecting content: Australians uncovering the true history of colonisation.</p>
<h2>The banality of evil</h2>
<p>Watson exposes the banality of the bureaucratic and institutional language of colonial records.</p>
<p>In Carpentaria, we hear the words of white men from stations located on Watson’s country, who petitioned the “protector” complaining about mandated wages for Aboriginal workers. They wanted to pay them less. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, carpentaria petition 1903, signatories, kangaroo grass, feather, cabbage tree palm (badakalinya kanba, wulu, kunda) 2021, volcanic soil, synthetic polymer paint, graphite and waxed linen thread on canvas. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Watson translated their signatures onto canvas and stained it by dancing pigment and volcanic soil into its fibres with her community.</p>
<p>The work is then overlaid with motifs from her country, symbolically referencing her great, great grandmother Rosie’s escape from a massacre.</p>
<p>Watson similarly reasserts her connection to country. With In broken Country, blacks not to be trusted, she has highlighted words on an 1897 ethnographic map, then overpainted with an image of cotton tree fibre string suggesting cultural tracks and trading routes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, broken country, blacks not to be trusted: roth’s sketch map north west central queensland 1897 (jamba, burrurri) 2021, synthetic polymer paint, indigo and graphite on canvas. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shocking words, shocking histories</h2>
<p>A quiet fury sits under Johnson’s layered reinterpretations of the establishment of structures that justified the primacy of white men with racist policies and attitudes.</p>
<p>There is a deliberate brutality in Crises, Johnson’s response to the stories and attitudes reported in the colonial publications The Bulletin and The Police Gazette. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Johnson, Crises 2021–22 (back), synthetic polymer paint and pencil on unstretched canvas, double-sided. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reworking their decorative lettering, she captures a colony obsessed with wealth, fixated on class and preoccupied with law and order. “Complacent”, “cowed”, “ignorant” and “complicit” reflect the crude characteristics of Australian colonial society. </p>
<p>The calligraphy has been updated to include images of contemporary figures such as Scott Morrison and George Pell, alluding to the continuities of Australian history.</p>
<p>Johnson challenges the pomp and glory of federation and the establishment of the first federal parliament to remind us it formalised an ethos of racism and discrimination still felt today.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Johnson, Crises 2021–22 (front), synthetic polymer paint and pencil on unstretched canvas, double-sided. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sitting below reconfigured press images of the time, she introduces a frieze of cartoon-like heads and speech bubbles quoting Hansard records from the first sitting. </p>
<p>Most revealing is Samuel Winter Cooke’s comment: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We must do our best to see that Australia remains as a possession for the white man, and the white man only.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Women’s perspective</h2>
<p>Watson’s interest in matrilineal kinship is realised in a series of paintings using silhouettes of her mother, her sister, her daughter and herself. </p>
<p>She layers topographical maps, flora and other symbols from their country under and over their portraits. Global temperature charts gestures ominously toward the future. </p>
<p>In her chilling video work, Skullduggery (2021), Watson also exposes the callous disregard of “bone enthusiasts” like Agnes Kerr, matron of Burketown Hospital in 1938. </p>
<p>Voiced by Aboriginal readers, Kerr’s letters to London’s Wellcome Museum catalogue the bones of known Aboriginal people she has plundered from burial sites. </p>
<p>Johnson places a birthing woman at the centre of The Birth of an Institution. Surrounded by onlookers including bankers, priests and politicians, the dome of an ornate colonial structure is crowning.</p>
<p>The scale of the building is monstrous. Unlike the waiting stakeholders, the identity of the mother is obscured – she will not be acknowledged for her labour.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Johnson, The birth of an institution 2021–22 (front), synthetic polymer paint and pencil on unstretched canvas, double-sided. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Truth telling</h2>
<p>Addressing colonisation and its legacies is an undertaking white artists often avoid. Many believe it should only be told by First Peoples. </p>
<p>Johnson, however, believes processing the constructs of colonisation is also the work of people who benefit from it. </p>
<p>It was Johnson’s initiative to work with Watson and the ensuing dialogue has produced a complex and nuanced retelling of history. </p>
<p>Their works harness the words of the colonisers to poetically expose blind spots and provide evidence of colonial crimes and cruelties. Once seen, they can never be forgotten.</p>
<p><em>Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends is at Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) until November 12, and will be at Museum of Art and Culture, yapang, NSW from May 2023.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/male-artists-dominate-galleries-our-research-explored-if-its-because-women-dont-paint-very-well-or-just-discrimination-189221">Male artists dominate galleries. Our research explored if it’s because ‘women don’t paint very well’ – or just discrimination</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Shiels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Waanyi woman Judy Watson and second-generation Anglo immigrant Helen Johnson both use archival materials to explore Australia’s violent history.
Julie Shiels, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188722
2022-08-24T20:01:57Z
2022-08-24T20:01:57Z
QAGOMA’s Embodied Knowledge is an energetic and inclusive celebration of contemporary Queensland art
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480177/original/file-20220821-2925-rms2jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C13%2C4473%2C5982&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Justene Williams, Australia b.1970. The Vertigoats 2021. Mixed media. Installed dimensions variable. Purchased 2021 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Collection: QAGOMA. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)</em></p>
<p>Drawing together 19 artists and collectives, Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art is a celebration of women, people of colour and LGBTIQA+ artists. All share a connection to Queensland.</p>
<p>Co-curators Ellie Buttrose and Katina Davidson have presented an energetic and inclusive group show. The conversations are varied and important without collapsing into parochial cliché. </p>
<p>The curators cleverly weave multiple interconnecting themes investigating history, memory and self. Embodied Knowledge gives visual form to the complexity and diversity of contemporary art in Queensland. </p>
<p>At the entrance to this exhibition, you are immediately greeted with Kamilaroi and Bigambul artist Archie Moore’s newly commissioned installation in the gallery’s Watermall. Titled Inert State 2022, it consists of pieces of paper gently floating on the surface of the water. </p>
<p>On closer inspection, each document is a coroner’s report. </p>
<h2>Counter-memorials</h2>
<p>In the wake of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-news-media-play-an-important-role-reminding-the-country-that-black-lives-still-matter-161412">Black Lives Matter movement</a>, memorials have become increasingly contested terrain, with artists seeking to challenge the very idea of what a memorial might be.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archie Moore, Kamilaroi/Bigambul peoples, Australia b.1970. Inert State (detail) 2022. Found hardcover books,steel, high-density polyethylene, polyurethane foam, microporous polyolefin silica-based paper. Dimensions variable. Commissioned for ‘Embodied Knowledge’ by QAGOMA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: Archie Moore and The Commercial, Sydney. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the 1991 release of the <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/first-australians/royal-commission-aboriginal-deaths-custody">Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody</a> report, more than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/06/beyond-heartbreaking-500-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-since-1991-royal-commission">500 Indigenous people</a> have died in police custody in Australia. Moore’s installation is a no-nonsense account of the ongoing racial violence in Australia’s prison systems. </p>
<p>Bitterly, this is a memorial in the present tense: Indigenous deaths in custody have not stopped. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-is-a-revolutionary-peace-movement-85449">Black Lives Matter is a revolutionary peace movement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Also working in a counter-memorial mode, Kamilaroi artist Warraba Weatherall critiques museum collections that continue to hold human remains and cultural objects from Weatherall’s Country and its surrounds. </p>
<p>To Know and Possess (2021) is a series of ten memorial plaques cast in bronze. Each plaque is a cast of an original museum record. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warraba Weatherall, Kamilaroi people, Australia b.1987. To know and possess (detail),2021, cast bronze, 10 pieces: 10.1 x 15.2 x 3cm (each). Purchased 2022. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The series sits awkwardly, out of scale on the expansive and otherwise empty gallery wall. </p>
<p>This is entirely the point, Weatherall is interrogating the supposed “<a href="https://www.artforum.com/print/197603/inside-the-white-cube-notes-on-the-gallery-space-part-i-38508">ideological purity</a>” and neutrality of the gallery space and, by extension, the institutional archive. </p>
<p>He reminds the viewer of the violence collecting practices continue to exert on Indigenous peoples. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warraba Weatherall, Kamilaroi people, b.1987. To know and possess (installation view in ‘Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art’, Brisbane, 2022) 2021, Cast bronze, 10 pieces: 10.1 x 15.2 x 3cm (each). Purchased 2022. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art © Warraba Weatherall. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is as if the plaques are deliberately antagonising or waging war with the wall where they are hung.</p>
<p>Callum McGrath’s installation emerges from his ongoing research project investigating and documenting public sites that are memorials for the queer community. </p>
<p>Part travel diary, part images selected from the internet, Responsibilities to time (2019) is presented in a series of leather-bound photo albums. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Callum McGrath, Australia b. 1995. Responsibilities to time (detail) 2019. Purchased 2021. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy: Callum McGrath</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The scale of McGrath’s work is intimate: he invites the spectator to step in and take a closer look. The frosted page dividers frustrate the viewer’s desire to see. Instead, the viewer is left with absences and gaps. </p>
<p>The work is a potent reminder of how queer histories are made invisible by heteronormative history. By working with amateur photography, McGrath is undermining the archive and its claims to authority. </p>
<h2>A sense of self</h2>
<p>This exhibition cleverly interweaves key moments in the history of <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mabo-decision-and-native-title-74147">native title</a>. </p>
<p>Meriam artist Obery Sambo is from the Torres Strait island of Mer (Murray Island) and a descendent of a long line of master mask and headdress-makers. Here he continues that tradition with his own ornate masks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Obery Sambo, Meriams of Mer, Australia b.1970. Sumes Borom (Bush Boar) 2019. Coconut husk, synthetic polymer paint, straw, shells, feathers, seeds, 30 x 34 x 46cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: Obery Sambo / Image courtesy: Umbrella Studios</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1774369">In 1898</a>, the University of Cambridge sponsored a team of anthropologists to travel to the Torres Strait, where they filmed Sambo’s ancestors dressed and dancing for ceremony. </p>
<p>Many years later, the footage was used as evidence of cultural continuity in the Mabo ruling in 1992. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mabo-decision-and-native-title-74147">Australian politics explainer: the Mabo decision and native title</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Working in an entirely different register, Justene Williams’ installation The Vertigoats (2021) consists of a series of mannequins. </p>
<p>Williams has long been associated with the <a href="https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/justene-williams/">grunge aesthetic</a> of Sydney in the 1990s. This work is more disco. With their disproportional limbs, Williams’ figures gleefully dance and cavort across the gallery space. </p>
<p>In her sights is the darker side of the online wellness and fashion industries. The idealised fabrication of our online selves is placed under pressure as the mannequins’ elongated limbs stretch to nightmarish proportions. </p>
<p>In playful dialogue with Williams’ mannequins is Jenny Watson’s series Private views and rear visions (2021-2022). Comprising of 48 paintings displayed along the length of the gallery wall, the work’s scale is commanding. </p>
<p>Watson has painted over printer’s proofs of the exhibition catalogue for a showing of her work <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/art-museum/whats-on/past-exhibitions/jenny-watson-chronicles">in 2016</a>. This creates a curious fold in time: Jenny on Jenny. </p>
<p>Watson is at her performative best: she places the notion of the authentic self under pressure while working in her distinctly confessional mode of address. Watson draws on recurring motifs that have defined her career, such as the lone woman, horses and the playful incorporation of text. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jenny Watson, Australia b. 1951. Private Views and Rear Visions (detail) 2021. Synthetic polymer paint on printers’ proof. 48 pieces: 100 x 72cm (each).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy: The artist and QAGOMA. Photograph: Natasha Harth</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Embodied Knowledge is on display at QAGOMA until January 22.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chari Larsson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art is a celebration of women, people of colour and LGBTIQA+ artists.
Chari Larsson, Senior Lecturer of art history, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180575
2022-08-21T20:02:24Z
2022-08-21T20:02:24Z
An Ode To My Grandmother: remaking the past using oral histories, theatre and music
<p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images of deceased people.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Amy Elwood, a Wangkumara/Adnyamathanha Elder and cultural repository of knowledge and grandmother to one of us (Lorina Barker), has inspired an array of creative works about her experience of removal from Country. </p>
<p>In 1938, 130 Aboriginal people including Amy’s family and other Wangkumara families were forcibly removed from Country at Tibooburra to the Brewarrina Aboriginal Station – the old mission. </p>
<p>The community was transported 500 kilometres east to the Baaka Barwon rivers on the back of three gubbie (government) trucks.</p>
<p>In 2006, Lorina had a yarn with her grandmother about her life experiences and memories. This was transformed into a poem titled An Ode to My Grandmother, a short film called Tibooburra: My Grandmother’s Country and touring multimedia exhibition named Looking Through Windows. </p>
<p>That yarn also inspired an immersive theatre performance Trucked Off, and the song An Ode to My Grandmother.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-histories-written-in-the-land-a-journey-through-adnyamathanha-yarta-124001">Friday essay: histories written in the land - a journey through Adnyamathanha Yarta</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Learning from Elders</h2>
<p>Oral history is the recorded account of a person’s memories of the past for historical and research purposes. Indigenous oral history is more than a methodology. It is living history, practised for thousands of millennia, intrinsically woven into Aboriginal people’s way of life and culture. </p>
<p>As Aboriginal people, we live it every day: it is a part of who we are, where we come from and who we are related to. It also determines our interconnected relationship and responsibilities to our lands, rivers, seas, skies and to all living and inanimate things in both the natural and spiritual worlds.</p>
<p>In these works, Amy Elwood is able to share her memories and stories and those of her family. </p>
<p>On the mission, life was harsh and regulated. The Wangkumara were not able to speak their language or practice their Culture; Elders worried for Country and many died of broken hearts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A plaque showing instructions for how the Brewarrina community members should respond to different bells ringing in the mission." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459939/original/file-20220427-20-i78run.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459939/original/file-20220427-20-i78run.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459939/original/file-20220427-20-i78run.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459939/original/file-20220427-20-i78run.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459939/original/file-20220427-20-i78run.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459939/original/file-20220427-20-i78run.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459939/original/file-20220427-20-i78run.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The bell signage at the Old Brewarrina Mission, photo by Julie Collins, Brewarrina, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julie Collins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In each development of the story, artists and musicians had to go through a process of decolonising themselves to work in an Aboriginal cultural framework. We were invited by Wangkumara Elders Gwen Barker, Rick Elwood, Rebecca McKellar and Louise Elwood into culturally creative spaces online and on Country where knowledge was transferred into new forms. </p>
<p>With each successive workshop and performance, we learnt more from the Elders through yarning and storytelling. The creative process from the poem to the final performance was developed over many years.</p>
<h2>Retelling history</h2>
<p>An immersive theatre work, Trucked Off started with the poem. In immersive theatre, the audience are not passive bystanders, they are part of the story.</p>
<p>In Trucked Off, the audience follow the Tibooburra families, walking in their shoes, reliving the journey from Tibooburra to Brewarrina in the far northwest of New South Wales.</p>
<p>On arrival at the mission, the old Brewarrina Station, the audience are told by the mission manager and staff how their lives will be ruled by the ringing of a bell. The number of rings indicates how they will respond: if they are required to assemble for work, obtain rations, or, for children, go to school or to see the nurse for “treatments”.</p>
<p>The penalties are harsh for noncompliance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of 12 people in period costume with a dog posing on a green lawn." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459950/original/file-20220427-22-b63s2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459950/original/file-20220427-22-b63s2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459950/original/file-20220427-22-b63s2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459950/original/file-20220427-22-b63s2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459950/original/file-20220427-22-b63s2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459950/original/file-20220427-22-b63s2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459950/original/file-20220427-22-b63s2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Actors in the Trucked Off Performance, Photo by David Elkins, Armidale 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Elkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wangkumara Elders, including Lorina’s mother Aunty Gwen Barker, participate as actors in Trucked Off, taking ownership of their story and retelling their history. </p>
<p>The script is dynamic, incorporating themes of grief, loss and trauma that reverberate through the generations, reflecting the continuing impact of colonisation. </p>
<p>This is a theatre of “truth-telling”, embodied and experiential, increasing people’s understanding and memory of this living history. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479576/original/file-20220817-20-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479576/original/file-20220817-20-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479576/original/file-20220817-20-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479576/original/file-20220817-20-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479576/original/file-20220817-20-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479576/original/file-20220817-20-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479576/original/file-20220817-20-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479576/original/file-20220817-20-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The audience are an integral part of the show.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ray Bud Kelly Jnr</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stories in song</h2>
<p>Another work inspired by the poem was an operatic song. In the Western tradition, the composer has the final say over the music but this process required a new way of working that involved Community and the Wangkumara Elders. </p>
<p>The process ensured cultural protocols were observed and permissions sought to tell the story and to find the correct sound. Wangkumara Elders were able to give us detailed insight into the story and the emotion behind the poem. </p>
<p>The musical sections were mapped out and the Elders wanted the song to have an uplifting ending. This demonstrated the courage and resilience of the people, their connection to Country and to the Mura tracks (Songlines), even after removal. The song ends with a triumphant fanfare and the lyrics “Country knows you”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I6UAvm3fggU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>While the poem is in English, the Elders added Wangkumara words into the song, including the word <em>Ngamadja</em>, which means “mother”. Wiradjuri soprano Georgina Hall discussed with Elders the many meanings of the words and the exact way to pronounce them while recording the song. </p>
<p>Language and the story of removal finds a new home in classical music and song. </p>
<p>The use of oral histories and archival materials in these creative works allow the family, community, artists and musicians along with the audience to walk in the footsteps of our Elders. </p>
<p>We speak their words and experience for a moment what it was like to be removed from Country, transported, fenced-in and locked up on a mission. The original poem, production and accompanying music also aids in demystifying removal, and not only builds empathy and understanding in audiences – but is also a call to action. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-i-am-anxious-to-have-my-children-home-recovering-letters-of-love-written-for-noongar-children-127809">Friday essay: ‘I am anxious to have my children home’: recovering letters of love written for Noongar children</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorina L. Barker receives funding from Australian Research Council and Create NSW</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Collins and Paul Smith do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Indigenous oral history is more than a methodology. It is living history, practised for thousands of millennia, intrinsically woven into Aboriginal people’s way of life and culture.
Lorina L. Barker, Senior Lecturer, University of New England
Julie Collins, Lecturer in Humanities, Arts, Social Science and Education (HASSE), University of New England
Paul Smith, Senior Lecturer in Music, University of New England
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/186889
2022-08-07T13:03:45Z
2022-08-07T13:03:45Z
We need a better understanding of race, ‘status’ and indigeneity in Canada
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477959/original/file-20220807-71528-ob8b2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C1%2C989%2C630&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many people were excluded from Indian status.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Indigenous Services Canada)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/we-need-a-better-understanding-of-race---status--and-indigeneity-in-canada" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Queen’s University recently <a href="https://www.queensu.ca/indigenous/sites/oiiwww/files/uploaded_files/FPG%20Queens%20Report%20Final%20July%207.pdf">released its highly anticipated report</a> after a year-long exploration into the institution’s approaches to indigeneity. </p>
<p>The report came about after a call was made by hundreds of Indigenous academics and community members following the news that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/queens-university-indigenous-identify-1.6082840">several white settler faculty claiming indigeneity were, in fact, “pretendians.”</a> </p>
<p>The report offers several recommendations that touch on everything from verification processes to developing a more robust Indigenous Studies program. While some Indigenous academics and community members welcomed the report, others suggested it relies too heavily on “colonial, imposed cards” and the concept of “Indian status.”</p>
<p>This critique based on cards and status is confusing, as the report is clear that individuals who have been disconnected from their communities due to colonialism have other avenues to demonstrate their genuine, integral connections. The report highlights the fact that we need a better understanding of race, Indian status and indigeneity in Canada.</p>
<h2>What does ‘pretendian’ mean?</h2>
<p>The term “pretendian” is new and stems from what renowned Indigenous scholar, Vine Deloria Jr., termed, “<a href="http://www.riversimulator.org/Resources/Books/CusterDiedForYourSinsAnIndianManifesto1969Deloria.pdf">the Indian Grandmother Complex</a>.”</p>
<p>Recently, president of the Indigenous Bar Association, Drew Lafond, penned <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-problem-with-labelling-people-pretendians/">an opinion editorial</a> suggesting the term “pretendian” is problematic. He said this is because the first people labelled as “pretendians” were “individuals who were unable to produce a status card under the Indian Act to ‘prove’ that they were Indigenous.” </p>
<p>But the word is actually a modern portmanteau that has gained traction with an established body of <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300264845/playing-indian/">critical academic literature</a>. </p>
<p>Lafond also suggested that the act of calling someone a “pretendian” has led to divisive and toxic interpretations of what it means to be Indigenous.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stolen-identities-what-does-it-mean-to-be-indigenous-podcast-ep-8-166248">Stolen identities: What does it mean to be Indigenous? Podcast EP 8</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Indian status and blood quantum</h2>
<p>While the concept of Indian status was, and continues to be, a tool that is imposed based on how much “native blood” one has, it is dangerous to centre Indian status, and not white entitlement and settler colonialism, as the issues plaguing tenuous or false claims to Indigenous identity. It is also dangerous to suggest that these conversations are undermining Indigenous self-determination. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-facing-a-settler-colonial-crisis-not-an-indigenous-identity-crisis-175136">We are facing a settler colonial crisis, not an Indigenous identity crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Characterizing all individuals who have been called “pretendians” as simply people who don’t qualify for Indian status is misleading and has contributed to a rise in “anti-status” rhetoric that is, quite frankly, racist. </p>
<p>While Indian status is an imposed mechanism, “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/02/09/583987261/so-what-exactly-is-blood-quantum">blood quantum</a>” cannot be disentangled from race. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aFMJ86s2xlk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Indian Country Today looks into ‘the pretendian problem.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people across this country who are visibly racialized and not only hold Indian status, but also carry the trauma of generations of Indigenous family members who have endured the Indian Act and many other forms of colonial violence. </p>
<p>While it is true that <a href="https://opentextbc.ca/indigenizationfoundations/chapter/the-indian-act/">many people were excluded from Indian status</a> under the Indian Act because of gender or kinship ties to multiple Black and racialized communities, some of these issues have been corrected due to tireless work, often led by Indigenous women — like <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mary-two-axe-earley">Mary Two-Axe Earley</a>, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sandra-lovelace-nicholas">Sandra Lovelace Nicholas</a>, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mcivor-case">Sharon McIvor</a>, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jeannette-vivian-lavell">Jeannette Corbiere Lavell</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/woman-wins-32-year-fight-for-indian-status-1.4078317">Lynn Gehl</a>. </p>
<p>The important work of addressing the erasure of Black and other racialized Indigenous kin through state mechanisms is ongoing. This is why challenging Indigenous identity fraud in academia must name and focus explicitly on structures of whiteness, white entitlement and settler colonialism so we don’t recreate the harms of past policies. </p>
<h2>Misclaiming ‘non-status’</h2>
<p>Ongoing efforts <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rMYGACf5Rs">to challenge Indian status exclusion</a> show us that there’s a massive difference between 1) someone who is a non-status First Nations person and 2) a white settler who has perhaps one or two Indigenous ancestors from before the concept of Indian status was introduced. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100014433/1535469348029">term non-status</a> is meant to reflect the experiences of people who carry a real and intimate connection to historical and contemporary colonial and non-colonial expressions of recognition. This is often expressed through both their exclusion to specific agreements (like the Indian Act) and their inclusion and acceptance within traditional forms of Indigenous kinship.</p>
<p>It is not a generic category for anyone who locates one or two distant ancestors. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OhBrq7Ez-rQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The ‘Indian Act’ explained.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All institutions must be wary of and challenge the ideas that support the notion that Indian status = colonial, therefore any person inhabiting their Indian status = bad. </p>
<p>Because status is an imposed race-based mechanism based on “Indian blood,” many (not all) Indigenous people who hold Indian status in this country are racialized people and know what it means to walk into a settler colonial space and speak volumes as an Indigenous person without uttering a word.</p>
<p>Institutions that aim to advance equity, anti-racism and decolonization must centre the principles of integrity, truth and structural transformation. They must ask pressing questions like: Do your Indigenous employees include racialized, gender-diverse and socioeconomically diverse Indigenous people?</p>
<p>These questions don’t get answered when the loudest voices within the room say, “being Indigenous is not about race or status.” </p>
<p>The focus on status disrespects the millions of Indigenous people who struggle to survive in universities and other settler institutions while having to endure everyday forms of anti-Indigenous racialized violence. </p>
<p>The way forward must centre the lived experiences of Indigenous Peoples, while also refusing the efforts of settlers to re-centre themselves in the necessary transformations of colonial institutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186889/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Celeste Pedri-Spade does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Challenging Indigenous identity fraud in academia must name and focus explicitly on structures of whiteness, white entitlement and settler colonialism so we don’t recreate the harms of past policies.
Celeste Pedri-Spade, Associate Professor & Queen’s National Scholar in Indigenous Studies, Queen's University, Ontario
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/186825
2022-08-01T20:03:21Z
2022-08-01T20:03:21Z
D Harding and Kate Harding: two artists exploring connections between mother and child, and the culture that forged them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475791/original/file-20220725-55427-fe6mgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C2%2C2000%2C1326&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kate Harding, Carnarvon 2020 (detail). Exhibition view of D Harding with Kate Harding: Through a lens of visitation at the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: David James</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: D Harding with Kate Harding Through a Lens of Visitation, Chau Chak Wing Museum</em></p>
<p>Entering D and Kate Harding’s Through a Lens of Visitation, Kate’s textile work Cylinders (2020) was the first thing to draw my attention. Higher than the surrounding works, it draws the eye with its bold geometric patterning in greens and ochre contrasting with the more organic palette of the surrounding work. </p>
<p>D Harding is a star of contemporary Australian art with a <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/d-harding-27244">flourishing international profile</a>. Their mother, Kate, is <a href="https://artisan.org.au/blogs/artisan-journal/kate-harding">a textile artist</a> who in recent years has used quilts to tell stories of family and country. </p>
<p>This exhibition shows the connections between a mother and child and the culture that forged them, foregrounding the contribution of Indigenous women.</p>
<p>D and Kate Harding are descendants of the Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal peoples, and have strong continuous connections to the internationally significant heritage site of Carnarvon Gorge in central Queensland. </p>
<p>Attracting tourists for its natural and cultural values, the gorge is known for its <a href="https://www.carnarvongorge.info/human-history-of-carnarvon-gorge">exceptional rock art</a>. However, the tourist lens has often obscured the spiritual importance for First Nations people. This exhibition and accompanying publication corrects this lens by foregrounding the living culture of First Nations people from a number of different viewpoints. </p>
<p>Threading together the artists’ Indigenous culture with rigorous scholarship, this exhibition challenges Australian art history.</p>
<h2>An undulating landscape</h2>
<p>The exhibition is predominately of textile works by both artists, accompanied by two of D’s large-scale paintings. </p>
<p>Throughout the exhibition, object and textile works are placed on tightly assembled plinths of various heights. </p>
<p>Plinths are the common white supports used to ensure sculptural works and statues can be examined closely. Most viewers do not even notice them. But in D’s work, the line dividing the plinth from the work is blurred.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475792/original/file-20220725-55292-kbrkfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475792/original/file-20220725-55292-kbrkfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475792/original/file-20220725-55292-kbrkfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475792/original/file-20220725-55292-kbrkfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475792/original/file-20220725-55292-kbrkfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475792/original/file-20220725-55292-kbrkfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475792/original/file-20220725-55292-kbrkfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475792/original/file-20220725-55292-kbrkfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exhibition view of D Harding with Kate Harding: Through a lens of visitation at the Chau Chak Wing Museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: David James</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As you enter, the lowest plinth is closest to the entrance, and the highest – standing at two metres tall – is in the back corner furthest from the entry. This creates an undulating landscape for the audience as they enter the gallery, and we feel an invitation to explore.</p>
<p>D told the audience at the opening the plinths signalled “hierarchies of care”. They adopted this gallery convention to present Indigenous culture with the same care reserved for classical treasures. Interventions like this counter the way museums have <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/f76062_c3d1135f79aa49a0aab72ebc59f7c355.pdf">historically portrayed</a> First Nations culture as anonymous ethnographic curiosities.</p>
<h2>Attention to the object</h2>
<p>In the middle of the field of plinths are two wrapped objects which remain secret, packaged neatly as if by a conservator preparing for safe storage. </p>
<p>The wall text reveals what audiences cannot see: two of D’s 2018 works Untitled Cloak and Repression cloak (ceremony for a gay wedding). Occupying the remainder of the plinths in the Penelope gallery are six textile works, visible but neatly folded to obscure a clear view.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475794/original/file-20220725-55319-tr40l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475794/original/file-20220725-55319-tr40l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475794/original/file-20220725-55319-tr40l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475794/original/file-20220725-55319-tr40l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475794/original/file-20220725-55319-tr40l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475794/original/file-20220725-55319-tr40l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475794/original/file-20220725-55319-tr40l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475794/original/file-20220725-55319-tr40l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exhibition view of D Harding with Kate Harding: Through a lens of visitation at the Chau Chak Wing Museum. Photo: David James.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The wrapped objects recall <a href="https://christojeanneclaude.net/">Christo and Jeanne-Claude</a>, drawing attention to the object, asking audiences to look at the overlooked. D’s wrapping safeguards Indigenous knowledge not for general consumption and ensures cultural safety. </p>
<p>This is most explicit in a redacted reproduction of a photograph of Carnarvon Gorge: what is withheld from view may be as significant as what is on display. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-remembering-christo-we-remember-what-art-once-was-139766">In remembering Christo, we remember what art once was</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The exhibition encourages thoughtful inquiry. Each of the works on display was developed through years of sustained practice with deep respect for their materials, knowledge of place, <a href="https://www.deadlystory.com/page/culture/Life_Lore/Songlines">Songlines</a> and Indigenous cultural practices. </p>
<p>In Kate’s textile work this inquiry is achieved through a range of quilts which employ natural dyes including the bold angular geometry of Carnarvon (2020) to the more organic forms which dominate White Hill – looking for food at Clermont (2020). Her works are stylistically diverse, each conveying different <a href="https://vimeo.com/551812473?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=33317264">story lines</a>. </p>
<p>In this exhibition, D’s acclaimed painting practice is accompanied with textile work, making the two artists’ work often indistinguishable. This is most visible in Emetic painting (International Rock Art Red and White) (2020), whose forms and colours resonate with those found in Kate’s quilts. </p>
<p>The potential of materials to convey historical stories is clear in Blue ground/dissociative (2017), which uses white ochre on an arresting ground of Reckitt’s Blue pointing to the diverse traditions informing this exhibition. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475793/original/file-20220725-30973-oew4xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475793/original/file-20220725-30973-oew4xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475793/original/file-20220725-30973-oew4xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475793/original/file-20220725-30973-oew4xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475793/original/file-20220725-30973-oew4xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475793/original/file-20220725-30973-oew4xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475793/original/file-20220725-30973-oew4xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475793/original/file-20220725-30973-oew4xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left to right: D Harding, Blue ground/dissociative 2017 and Kate Harding, Carnarvon underground water 2020. Exhibition view of D Harding with D Harding with Kate Harding: Through a lens of visitation at the Chau Chak Wing Museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: David James</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The individual works, their careful display in this exhibition and the <a>publication</a> demonstrate a profound respect for both the language of contemporary art and Indigenous traditions. </p>
<p>It is a significant achievement.</p>
<p><em>D Harding with Kate Harding: Through a lens of visitation is on now at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott East receives funding from the Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Engineering and Facilities Program (Grant LE210100021). </span></em></p>
Descendants of the Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal peoples, two renowned artists come together in this family exhibition.
Scott East, Lecturer, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/187426
2022-07-26T00:37:47Z
2022-07-26T00:37:47Z
Labelling ‘fake art’ isn’t enough. Australia needs to recognise and protect First Nations cultural and intellectual property
<p>The latest <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/indigenous-arts/draft">draft report</a> from the Productivity Commission on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual arts and crafts confirms what First Nations artists have known for decades: fake art harms culture.</p>
<p>Released last week, the report details how two in three Indigenous-style products, souvenirs or digital imagery sold in Australia are fake, with no connection to – or benefit for – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.</p>
<p>This is a long-standing problem. As Aboriginal Elder Gawirrin Gumana (Yolngu) <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1133887?from=list">explained</a> in 1996:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When that [white] man does that it is like cutting off our skin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Productivity Commission has proposed all inauthentic Indigenous art should be labelled as such. But we think a much bolder conversation needs to happen around protecting the cultural and intellectual property of Indigenous artists. </p>
<p>Australia has no national licensing or production guidelines to protect Indigenous cultural and intellectual property within commercial design and digital spaces. Our work hopes to see this change.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-cultural-appropriation-what-not-to-do-86679">Indigenous cultural appropriation: what not to do</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘This is storytelling’</h2>
<p><a href="https://apo.org.au/node/318268">Our research</a> focuses on supporting and representing First Nations artists within design and commercial spaces, understanding how to ensure cultural safety and appropriate payment and combat exploitation.</p>
<p>Many First Nations artists we spoke to told us stories of exploitative business models. They were blindly led into licensing agreements and client relations that were not culturally safe. Clients thought commissioning a design equated to “owning” the copyright to First Nations art, culture and knowledge.</p>
<p>Gudanji/Wakaja artist and winner of the 2022 NAIDOC poster competition <a href="https://nardurna.com/">Ryhia Dank</a> told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We need clear recognition, structures and licensing guidelines to protect all of what First Nations ‘art’ represents. I know a lot of us, as we are starting out don’t know how to licence our work […] <br></p>
<p>One of my first designs was for a fabric company and I didn’t licence the design correctly, so that company is still using my design and I only once charged them $350 and that was it. Having legal support from the start is critical.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475761/original/file-20220725-29416-u6dq6h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="NAIDOC poster reads: Get up, stand up, show up." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475761/original/file-20220725-29416-u6dq6h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475761/original/file-20220725-29416-u6dq6h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475761/original/file-20220725-29416-u6dq6h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475761/original/file-20220725-29416-u6dq6h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475761/original/file-20220725-29416-u6dq6h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475761/original/file-20220725-29416-u6dq6h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475761/original/file-20220725-29416-u6dq6h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 2022 National NAIDOC Poster incorporating the Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag (licensed by the Torres Strait Island Council).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NAIDOC</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Arrernte and Anmatyerre graphic novelist <a href="https://www.stickmobstudio.com.au/">Declan Miller</a> explained how many clients and businesses are misguided in thinking commissioning a design equates to owning the copyright to First Nations knowledges.</p>
<p>“Our art is not just art,” he said.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Clients need to be aware this is storytelling. This is culture. We will always own that. But we are happy for clients to work with us, and use our art and pay us for it, but we have to keep that integrity. This is our story, this is where we are from, this is who we are and you can’t buy that or take that from us.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Protecting property</h2>
<p>Transparent labelling of inauthentic art is a great start, but there is more work needed. </p>
<p>Intellectual property laws and processes should adequately protect First Nations art.</p>
<p>“Indigenous cultural and intellectual property” refers to the rights First Nations people have – and want to have – to protect their traditional arts, heritage and culture.</p>
<p>This can include communally owned cultural practices, traditional knowledge and resources and knowledge systems developed by First Nations people as part of their First Nations identity.</p>
<p>First Nations products should be supplied by a First Nations business that protects Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, with direct benefits to First Nations communities.</p>
<p>The outcomes of our research have resulted in the recent launch of <a href="https://solidlines.agency/">Solid Lines</a> – Australia’s only First Nations illustration agency to be led by First Nations people. An integral part of this agency is the Indigenous cultural and intellectual property policy designed specifically for the design and commercial art industry.</p>
<p>The agency hopes this policy, created with <a href="http://marrawahlaw.com.au/">Marrawah Law</a>, will help create and support culturally safe and supportive pathways for First Nations creatives.</p>
<p>For First Nations artists represented by Solid Lines, our policy also means obtaining culturally appropriate approval to use family or community stories, and knowledges and symbols that are communally owned.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-indigenous-fashion-designers-are-taking-control-and-challenging-the-notion-of-the-heroic-lone-genius-121041">How Indigenous fashion designers are taking control and challenging the notion of the heroic, lone genius</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Recognition and protection</h2>
<p>The report from the Productivity commission focuses on fake art coming in from overseas, but fake art also happens in our own backyard.</p>
<p>In our research, we have spoken to Elders, traditional custodians, and community leaders who are concerned that Western and Central Desert designs, symbols and iconography are now used by other First Nations across Australia. </p>
<p>This work often undermines customary laws and limits economic benefits flowing back to communities.</p>
<p>Community designs, symbols and iconography are part of a cultural connection to a specific land or country of First Nations people. Embracing Indigenous cultural and intellectual property policies will mean designs, symbols and iconography can only be used by the communities they belong to.</p>
<p>The Productivity Commission calculated the value of authentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts, crafts, and designs sold in Australia in 2019-2020 at A$250 million. This will only continue to grow as Australia’s design and commercial industries continue to draw upon the oldest continuing culture in the world.</p>
<p>Visible recognition and protection of First Nations cultural and intellectual property will allow for new creative voices to respectfully and safely emerge within Australian art and design industries.</p>
<p>Through embracing guidelines around Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, First Nations artists will be supported in cultural safety, appropriate payment and combat exploitation. This is the next step beyond labelling inauthentic art.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-the-mens-painting-room-at-papunya-transformed-australian-art-79909">Friday essay: how the Men's Painting Room at Papunya transformed Australian art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187426/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola St John has received research funding from Creative Victoria and The Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Government’s principal arts investment, development and advisory body.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emrhan Sultan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Productivity Commission has proposed inauthentic Indigenous art should be labelled. But ‘fake art’ is only part of the problem.
Nicola St John, Lecturer, Communication Design, RMIT University
Emrhan Sultan, Researcher, RMIT School of Design, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/184749
2022-07-03T19:52:53Z
2022-07-03T19:52:53Z
Rediscovering the art of Tracker Nat: ‘the Namatjira of carving’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467948/original/file-20220609-22-fwy2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4041%2C3143&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tracker Nat, holding his hat on the far left, with Paul Hasluck standing next to him, holding Nat's shield in this picture from 1958. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Archives of Australia. NAA: A1200, L28199. </span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>On June 5 1960, the Darwin paper The Sunday Mirror reported: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A tribal painter, said to be more famous than the late <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/namatjira-albert/">Albert Namatjira</a>, has just died at Warrabri welfare settlement, near Tennant Creek. He was Nat Warano, of whose skill few white men had heard.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Locally, Warano is remembered as Tracker Nat.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467951/original/file-20220609-25-72nbeo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467951/original/file-20220609-25-72nbeo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467951/original/file-20220609-25-72nbeo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467951/original/file-20220609-25-72nbeo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467951/original/file-20220609-25-72nbeo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467951/original/file-20220609-25-72nbeo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467951/original/file-20220609-25-72nbeo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467951/original/file-20220609-25-72nbeo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tracker Nat, painted shield, c1958.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Born in the 1880s, Nat worked as a drover during the 1930s, before becoming a police tracker. He was also a leader and diplomat of the Warumungu people during a tumultuous period of their history. </p>
<p>During the 1940s and 1950s Nat was a prolific carver of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolamon_(vessel)">coolamons</a>, spearthrowers, shields and water carriers, painting them with men dancing in ceremonial dress and body paint, as well as men hunting with boomerangs and spears.</p>
<p>This style of painting scenes of Warumungu life onto carvings was unique. The details of animals, vegetation and weapons show both a personal style and a deep knowledge of what he was painting.</p>
<p>As well as selling painted carvings, he gifted artefacts and drawings to missionaries, teachers and government officials so as to draw them into the Warumungu system of a <em>ngijinkirri</em>, a mutual gifting that implicates the giver and receiver into a relationship of obligation.</p>
<p>Yawalya Elder Donald “Crook Hat” Thompson explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ngijinkirri is like paying back, might be tucker, like a kangaroo or an object. Everyone, all tribe from all around practise this. Like when a school teacher gives you knowledge, you owe them. Maybe pay you with a full kangaroo, pay you with an emu, but no money.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During the 1950s, Nat made hundreds of carvings. Today, many of these are likely to be lying unidentified in people’s homes and in museum basements.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/paddy-compass-namadbara-for-the-first-time-we-can-name-an-artist-who-created-bark-paintings-in-arnhem-land-in-the-1910s-180243">Paddy Compass Namadbara: for the first time, we can name an artist who created bark paintings in Arnhem Land in the 1910s</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Extending authority</h2>
<p>A surviving photograph of Nat shows him at the official opening of the Warrabri settlement, now <a href="https://www.barkly.nt.gov.au/communities/ali-curung">Ali Curung</a>, in 1958. </p>
<p>He stands next to the federal minister for Territories, Paul Hasluck, who holds a shield with Nat’s distinctive motifs painted upon it. An unidentified man holds a second shield painted in Western Desert style, with roundels and dots, probably made by Engineer Jack, standing to his left.</p>
<p>Since the 1890s, the Warumungu had been shuffled from one settlement to another, from ration station to reserve to mission. The local Aboriginal population boomed after the <a href="https://www.commonground.org.au/learn/coniston-massacre">Coniston Massacre</a> of 1928 sent people in search of a safe place to live, and the Warumungu people opened up their country to Warlpiri, Kaytetye and other refugees from frontier violence. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-the-mens-painting-room-at-papunya-transformed-australian-art-79909">Friday essay: how the Men's Painting Room at Papunya transformed Australian art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Jack and Nat, the senior men for the Warumungu and Warlpiri respectively, worked together to keep the peace and on ceremonial matters, and it was these men who were tasked with talking to the government about moving the community to Warrabri. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467953/original/file-20220609-22-3lbq01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467953/original/file-20220609-22-3lbq01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467953/original/file-20220609-22-3lbq01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467953/original/file-20220609-22-3lbq01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467953/original/file-20220609-22-3lbq01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467953/original/file-20220609-22-3lbq01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467953/original/file-20220609-22-3lbq01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467953/original/file-20220609-22-3lbq01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tracker Nat, detail of weapons on a water carrier with signature visible, year unknown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Private collection</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Phillip Creek was running out of water, which was the reason for the move, but Nat was also concerned that Phillip Creek was too close to sensitive cultural sites.</p>
<p>The gifting of the shield to Hasluck was Nat’s way of extending his authority into white society. </p>
<h2>A modern artist</h2>
<p>Nat also made drawings, the earliest of which can be dated to 1929. Some are of his time working on cattle stations, with detailed depictions of long horned cattle. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467950/original/file-20220609-16-s5nb4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467950/original/file-20220609-16-s5nb4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467950/original/file-20220609-16-s5nb4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467950/original/file-20220609-16-s5nb4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467950/original/file-20220609-16-s5nb4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467950/original/file-20220609-16-s5nb4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467950/original/file-20220609-16-s5nb4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467950/original/file-20220609-16-s5nb4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tracker Nat, drawing of stockman on a horse, collected by Annie Lock at Barrow Creek, c1932.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">South Australian Museum archives series AA184</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like so many Aboriginal carvers of this era, Nat’s name was forgotten after his work was collected by people making trips to remote Australia. </p>
<p>This is a tragedy not only for Nat and his family but the greater story of Australia, in which Aboriginal elders played significant roles negotiating on behalf of their communities, using art to forge a middle ground with settler Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467955/original/file-20220609-22-cfat83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467955/original/file-20220609-22-cfat83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467955/original/file-20220609-22-cfat83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467955/original/file-20220609-22-cfat83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467955/original/file-20220609-22-cfat83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467955/original/file-20220609-22-cfat83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467955/original/file-20220609-22-cfat83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467955/original/file-20220609-22-cfat83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph Yugi Williams, untitled, painted shield, private collection, 2020.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We rediscovered Nat’s work after discovering a newspaper essay about his drawings, and seeing a pair of his shields come up for auction. Since then we have been looking for them, and have found several carvings in public and private collections.</p>
<p>One of the authors of this paper, Joseph Yugi Williams, is Nat’s grandson and a contemporary artist. He has been re-enacting Nat’s work with a series of shields inspired by his artefacts.</p>
<p>We hope to find more Tracker Nat works in the future and plan to have an exhibition in the next couple of years that showcases his originality as an artist and his significance for Warumungu people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184749/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darren Jorgensen receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This piece was written with Levi McLean, who is currently an Honours student in art history at the University of Western Australia, based at Ali Curung in the Northern Territory.</span></em></p>
During the 1950s, Nat made hundreds of carvings. Today, many of these are likely to be lying unidentified in people’s homes and in museum basements.
Darren Jorgensen, Senior lecturer in art history, The University of Western Australia
Joseph Yugi Williams, Artist and Men’s Art Facilitator, Nyinkka Nyunyu, Indigenous Knowledge
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180243
2022-05-10T20:00:54Z
2022-05-10T20:00:54Z
Paddy Compass Namadbara: for the first time, we can name an artist who created bark paintings in Arnhem Land in the 1910s
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461945/original/file-20220509-20-1nw8ho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C5143%2C1693&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The bark painting depicting a barramundi that Namadbara created for Spencer at Oenpelli in 1912 and that he identified in the interview with Lance Bennett in 1967, now in Museums Victoria Spencer/Cahill Collection (object X 19909).</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of deceased people.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>For students of Australian art and art collectors around the globe, Arnhem Land is synonymous with bark painting: sheets of tree bark carefully prepared as a canvas for painting by Aboriginal artists. </p>
<p>Bark painters such as <a href="https://www.johnmawurndjul.com/">John Mawurndjul</a> and <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/artists/yirawala/">Yirawala</a> are some of the most internationally renowned and sought-after Australian artists. </p>
<p>As the market for bark paintings emerged in the early 20th century, recording the name of individual artists was far from the collector’s mind. Museums and art galleries are full of early artworks, sometimes attributed to particular “clans” or geographic areas, but rarely including the name of the artists. </p>
<p>Such collections are routinely named after the collector rather than the creators. One such collection, the Spencer/Cahill Collection at Museums Victoria, is the focus for our ongoing research project.</p>
<p>The Spencer/Cahill Collection is vast and includes many precious objects collected by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Baldwin_Spencer">Sir Baldwin Spencer</a> when he visited Oenpelli (Gunbalanya), Northern Territory in 1912. He later acquired further artworks and objects via his “on the ground” contact, buffalo shooter Paddy Cahill. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455621/original/file-20220331-17-qbsg7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455621/original/file-20220331-17-qbsg7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455621/original/file-20220331-17-qbsg7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455621/original/file-20220331-17-qbsg7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455621/original/file-20220331-17-qbsg7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455621/original/file-20220331-17-qbsg7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455621/original/file-20220331-17-qbsg7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455621/original/file-20220331-17-qbsg7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Oenpelli settlement with Arrkuluk Hill in the background, c. 1912–14, photograph by Mervyn Holmes or Elsie Masson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1998.306.120</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our project’s main focus is the approximately 170 bark paintings commissioned at Oenpelli between 1912 and 1922. </p>
<p>Earlier bark paintings in museum collections were generally removed from bark huts found by explorers and collectors during their travels. Spencer and Cahill took the additional step of commissioning paintings on bark from the artists: these works represent the birth of the bark painting Aboriginal art movement. </p>
<p>Spencer’s earlier collecting experiences had been conducted to document – as Spencer and others described – a “doomed race” before it became extinct. </p>
<p>In Oenpelli, Spencer was mesmerised by local artists who decorated their stringy bark huts with paintings depicting animals and spirit beings, which resemble paintings found in rock shelters in the vicinity. </p>
<p>He compared the delicate lines in the artworks with “civilised” Japanese or Chinese artworks and concluded the local bark paintings were:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>so realistic, always expressing admirably the characteristic features of the animal drawn, that anyone acquainted with the original can identify the drawings at once. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Spencer’s encounter led him to refigure his perception of Aboriginal art towards a more aesthetic appreciation. At Oenpelli, he selected a handful of the most skilful artists to paint a series of bark paintings for him. </p>
<p>He left with 50 artworks. Over the following years, around another 120 barks were sent down to Melbourne.</p>
<p>Spencer did not record the name of the artist for each painting. But, thanks to an unpublished interview from 1967, we can now successfully link bark paintings from this collection to an individual artist. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/review-transformations-early-bark-paintings-from-arnhem-land-20410">Review – Transformations: Early Bark Paintings from Arnhem Land</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Paddy Compass Namadbara</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455477/original/file-20220331-12-8cbi9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455477/original/file-20220331-12-8cbi9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455477/original/file-20220331-12-8cbi9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455477/original/file-20220331-12-8cbi9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455477/original/file-20220331-12-8cbi9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455477/original/file-20220331-12-8cbi9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455477/original/file-20220331-12-8cbi9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455477/original/file-20220331-12-8cbi9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paddy Compass Namadbara on Minjilang (Croker Island) in 1967, photographed by Lance Bennett. The young girl is Namadbara’s granddaughter Elaine, daughter to his adopted son Thompson Yulidjirri.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Estate of Lance Bennett, courtesy of Barbara Spencer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Paddy Compass Namadbara (c. 1892-1978) is remembered by people in western Arnhem Land as a skilful artist, <a href="https://shop.aiatsis.gov.au/products/clever-man-the-life-of-paddy-compass-namadbarra">a “clever man”</a>, a strong community leader and family man. </p>
<p>During the 1950s and 1960s he spent much of his time on Minjilang (Croker Island), where he often painted alongside contemporary artists such as Yirawala and <a href="https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/midjawmidjaw/">Jimmy Midjaumidjau</a>. </p>
<p>In 1967 he was visited by researcher <a href="https://news.aboriginalartdirectory.com/2013/03/lance-bennett-19382013.php">Lance Bennett</a>, who was there to collect bark paintings and information for a book he was writing on contemporary Aboriginal art. </p>
<p>During these interviews, Namadbara casually identified his own works in a book published by Baldwin Spencer in 1914, <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1921264">Native tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia</a>. One work features a barramundi, another a swamp hen, black bream and painted hand stencils. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455469/original/file-20220331-21-9063z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455469/original/file-20220331-21-9063z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=169&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455469/original/file-20220331-21-9063z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=169&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455469/original/file-20220331-21-9063z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=169&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455469/original/file-20220331-21-9063z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455469/original/file-20220331-21-9063z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455469/original/file-20220331-21-9063z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The painting Namadbara created in 1912 depicting a swamp hen, black bream and his decorated hand stencils, now in Museums Victoria (object X 19887).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bennett asked Namadbara to recreate this painting from 1912, a painting now in The Bennett Collection at the <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/">National Museum of Australia</a> in Canberra. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455470/original/file-20220331-26-eoevi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455470/original/file-20220331-26-eoevi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455470/original/file-20220331-26-eoevi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455470/original/file-20220331-26-eoevi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455470/original/file-20220331-26-eoevi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455470/original/file-20220331-26-eoevi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455470/original/file-20220331-26-eoevi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The same motifs painted in 1967 for Lance Bennett, now part of the Bennett Collection in the National Museum of Australia (object 1985.0246.0109).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bennett took the time to ask Namadbara about his personal experiences of Spencer’s visit to Oenpelli in 1912. Namadbara said Spencer asked chosen artists to create bark paintings on small, transport-friendly bark sheets, which they had never done before. This transformed the traditional bark-hut paintings into a new media: bark paintings. </p>
<p>Cahill, who acted as a middleman, is remembered by Namadbara as asking Aboriginal people to shed their western clothing so Spencer could film and photograph ceremonies that were “properly old fashioned”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455498/original/file-20220331-13-phbakz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455498/original/file-20220331-13-phbakz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455498/original/file-20220331-13-phbakz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455498/original/file-20220331-13-phbakz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455498/original/file-20220331-13-phbakz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455498/original/file-20220331-13-phbakz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455498/original/file-20220331-13-phbakz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455498/original/file-20220331-13-phbakz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paddy Compass Namadbara recreating the 1912 bark painting on Minjilang (Croker Island) in 1967, photographed by Lance Bennett.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Estate of Lance Bennett, courtesy of Barbara Spencer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spencer asked Namadbara to cross his hands when he created his hand stencils on the bark with the swamp hen and the black bream, which the artist found peculiar. They asked the artists to leave some of the paintings not fully decorated, so that the motifs would stand out better in photographs. </p>
<p>The payment for the 50 bark paintings consisted of a bag of tobacco and two bags of flour.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-17-500-year-old-kangaroo-in-the-kimberley-is-australias-oldest-aboriginal-rock-painting-154181">This 17,500-year-old kangaroo in the Kimberley is Australia's oldest Aboriginal rock painting</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ongoing connection</h2>
<p>The master artists who created works for early collectors deserve to be recognised, as do the vital ongoing connections that remain between the paintings and the communities from which they were acquired. </p>
<p>Gabriel Maralngurra, Namadbara’s kin-grandson and one of the researchers on this project, explains: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>these paintings they remain part of us, part of our community. It doesn’t matter if they are far away, we still hold them close.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Being able to identify the artists in this and other museum collections revitalises the significance of these artworks for contemporary First Nation communities, artists and their families. </p>
<p>It also assists cultural institutions to better understand the significance and ongoing cultural links to these collections – collaboratively charting a path for this priceless Australian heritage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joakim Goldhahn receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Rock Art Australia. This research is being undertaken in collaboration with Injalak Arts and Museums Victoria.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Maralngurra is affiliated with Injalak Arts. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Taylor receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul S.C.Taçon receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally K. May receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This research is being undertaken in collaboration with Injalak Arts and Museums Victoria. </span></em></p>
The Spencer/Cahill Collection at Museums Victoria contains approximately 170 bark paintings – and now we can name one of the artists behind them.
Joakim Goldhahn, Rock Art Australia Ian Potter Kimberley Chair, The University of Western Australia
Gabriel Maralngurra, Co-manager, Injalak Arts, Indigenous Knowledge
Luke Taylor, Adjunct Fellow, Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit, Griffith University, Australian National University
Paul S.C.Taçon, Chair in Rock Art Research and Director of the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU), Griffith University
Sally K. May, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/181240
2022-05-04T20:07:12Z
2022-05-04T20:07:12Z
65,000 years of food scraps found at Kakadu tell a story of resilience amid changing climate, sea levels and vegetation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460525/original/file-20220429-26-gdije7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4608%2C3035&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">May Nango sharing stories about Mamukala wetlands with her grandson, in 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anna Florin (courtesy of GAC)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For 65,000 years, Bininj – the local Kundjeihmi word for Aboriginal people – have returned to Madjedbebe rock shelter on Mirarr Country in the Kakadu region (in the Northern Territory). </p>
<p>Over this immense span of time, the environment around the rock shelter has changed dramatically. </p>
<p>Our paper, <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ezuT-4PS2FMJ">published last week</a> in Quaternary Science Reviews, uses ancient scraps of plant foods, once charred in the site’s fireplaces, to explore how Aboriginal communities camping at the site responded to these changes. </p>
<p>This cooking debris tells a story of resilience in the face of changing climate, sea levels and vegetation.</p>
<h2>A changing environment</h2>
<p>The 50-metre-long Madjedbebe rock shelter lies at the base of a huge sandstone outlier. The site has a dark, ashy floor from hundreds of past campfires and is littered with stone tools and grindstones. </p>
<p>The back wall is decorated with vibrant and colourful rock art. Some images – such as horsemen in broad-brimmed hats, ships, guns and decorated hands – are quite recent. Others are likely many thousands of years old. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460929/original/file-20220503-19-bm7449.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460929/original/file-20220503-19-bm7449.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460929/original/file-20220503-19-bm7449.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460929/original/file-20220503-19-bm7449.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460929/original/file-20220503-19-bm7449.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460929/original/file-20220503-19-bm7449.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460929/original/file-20220503-19-bm7449.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">May Nango sharing cultural knowledge about bim (rock art) with Djurrubu rangers Axel Nadjamerrek, Amroh Djandjomerr and Cuisak Nango at Madjedbebe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lynley Wallis (courtesy of GAC)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, the site is situated on the edge of the Jabiluka wetlands. But 65,000 years ago, when sea levels were much lower, it sat on the edge of a vast savanna plain joining Australia and New Guinea in the supercontintent of Sahul. </p>
<p>At this time, the world was experiencing a glacial period (referred to as the Marine Isotope Stage 4, or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379118305067">MIS 4</a>) . And while Kakadu would have been relatively well-watered <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-01379-8">compared with other parts of Australia</a>, the monsoon vine forest vegetation, common at other points in time, would have retreated.</p>
<p>This glacial period would eventually ease, followed by an interglacial period, and then another glacial period, the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2).</p>
<p>Cut to the Holocene (10,000 years ago) and the weather became much warmer and wetter. Monsoon vine forest, open forest and woodland vegetation proliferated, and sea levels rose rapidly. </p>
<p>By 7,000 years ago, Australia and New Guinea were entirely severed from each other and the sea approached Madjedbebe to a high stand of just 5km away. </p>
<p>What followed was the rapid transformation of the Kakadu region. First the sea receded slightly, the river systems near the site became estuaries, and mangroves etched the lowlands. </p>
<p>By 4,000 years ago, these were partially replaced by patches of freshwater wetland. And by 2,000 years ago, the iconic Kakadu wetlands of today were formed.</p>
<h2>Unlikely treasure</h2>
<p>Our research team, composed of archaeologists and Mirarr Traditional Owners, wanted to learn how people lived within this changing environment. </p>
<p>To do this, we sought an unlikely archaeological treasure: charcoal. It’s not something that comes to mind for the average camper, but when a fireplace is lit many of its components – such as twigs and leaves, or food thrown in – can later transform into charcoal.</p>
<p>Under the right conditions, these charred remains will survive long after campers have moved on. This happened many times in the past. Bininj living at Madjedbebe left a range of food scraps behind, including charred and fragmented fruit, nuts, palm stem, seeds, roots and tubers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461213/original/file-20220504-14-kb15tm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461213/original/file-20220504-14-kb15tm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461213/original/file-20220504-14-kb15tm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461213/original/file-20220504-14-kb15tm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461213/original/file-20220504-14-kb15tm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461213/original/file-20220504-14-kb15tm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461213/original/file-20220504-14-kb15tm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461213/original/file-20220504-14-kb15tm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A scanning electron microscope image of charred waterlily (Nymphaea sp.) stem found at Madjedbebe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anna Florin (courtesy of GAC)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using high-powered microscopes, we compared the anatomy of these charcoal pieces to plant foods still harvested from Mirarr Country today. By doing so, we learned about the foods past people ate, the places they gathered them from, and even the seasons in which they visited the site. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/burnt-ancient-nutshells-reveal-the-story-of-climate-change-at-kakadu-now-drier-than-ever-before-152760">Burnt ancient nutshells reveal the story of climate change at Kakadu — now drier than ever before</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460367/original/file-20220428-14-605qf8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460367/original/file-20220428-14-605qf8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460367/original/file-20220428-14-605qf8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460367/original/file-20220428-14-605qf8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460367/original/file-20220428-14-605qf8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460367/original/file-20220428-14-605qf8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460367/original/file-20220428-14-605qf8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers worked hard to collect comparative reference material, including the fruit of andjalbbirdo (white bush plum, <em>Syzygium eucalyptoides</em> subsp. <em>bleeseri</em>) near Mudjinberri, on Mirarr Country, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elspeth Hayes (courtesy of GAC)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ancient anme</h2>
<p>From the earliest days of camping at Madjedbebe, people gathered and ate a broad range of anme (the Kundjeihmi word for “plant foods”). This included plants such as pandanus nuts and palm heart, which require tools, labour and detailed traditional knowledge to collect and make edible. </p>
<p>The tools used included edge-ground axes and grinding stones. These were all found in the oldest layers at the site – making them the oldest axes and some of the earliest grinding stones in the world.</p>
<p>Our evidence shows that during the two drier glacial phases (MIS 4 and 2), communities at Madjedbebe relied more on these harder-to-process foods. As the climate was drier, and food was probably more dispersed and less abundant, people would have had to make do with foods that took longer to process.</p>
<p>Highly prized anme such as karrbarda (long yam, <em>Dioscorea transvera</em>) and annganj/ankanj (waterlily seeds, <em>Nymphea</em> spp.) were significant elements of the diet at times when the monsoon vine forest and freshwater vegetation got closer to Madjedbebe – such as during wetland formation in the last 4,000 years and earlier wet phases. But they were also sought from more distant places during drier times.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460371/original/file-20220428-26-1mv68h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460371/original/file-20220428-26-1mv68h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460371/original/file-20220428-26-1mv68h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460371/original/file-20220428-26-1mv68h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460371/original/file-20220428-26-1mv68h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460371/original/file-20220428-26-1mv68h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460371/original/file-20220428-26-1mv68h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">May Nango following the vine of a karrbarda (long yam, <em>Dioscorea transversa</em>) to dig for its yam near Djurrubu, on Mirarr Country, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anna Florin (courtesy of GAC)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A change of seasons</h2>
<p>The biggest shift in the plant diet eaten at Madjedbebe occurred with the formation of freshwater wetlands. About 4,000 years ago, Bininj didn’t just start to include more freshwater plants in their diet, they also began to return to Madjedbebe during a different season.</p>
<p>Rather than coming to the rock shelter when local fruit trees such as andudjmi (green plum, <em>Buchanania obovata</em>) were fruiting, from Kurrung to Kunumeleng (September to December), they began visiting from Bangkerrang to Wurrkeng (March to August). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-seasonal-calendars-of-indigenous-australia-88471">Explainer: the seasonal 'calendars' of Indigenous Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This is a time of year when resources found at the edge of the wetlands, now close to Madjedbebe, become available as floodwaters recede. With the emergence of patchy freshwater wetlands 4,000 years ago, communities changed their diet to make the best use of their environments. </p>
<p>Today, the wetlands are culturally and economically significant to the Mirarr and other Bininj. A range of seasonal animal and plant foods feature at dinner time, including magpie geese, turtles and waterlilies.</p>
<h2>The burning question</h2>
<p>It’s likely the First Australians not only responded to their environment but also shaped it. In the Kakadu region today, one of the main ways Bininj modify their landscape is through cultural burning. </p>
<p>Fire is a cultural tool with a multitude of functions – such as, hunting, generating vegetation growth, and cleaning up pathways and campsites. </p>
<p>One of its most important functions is the steady reduction of wet season biomass which, if left unchecked, becomes fuel for dangerous bushfires in Kurrung (September to October), at the end of the dry season.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460770/original/file-20220502-19-zkvimp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460770/original/file-20220502-19-zkvimp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460770/original/file-20220502-19-zkvimp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460770/original/file-20220502-19-zkvimp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460770/original/file-20220502-19-zkvimp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460770/original/file-20220502-19-zkvimp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460770/original/file-20220502-19-zkvimp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Djurrubu rangers Amroh Djandomerr and Deonus Djandomerr burning Mirarr Country, not far from the Madjedbebe site, in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lynley Wallis (courtesy of GAC)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our data demonstrates the use of a range of plant foods at Madjedbebe during Kurrung, throughout most of the site’s occupation, from 65,000 to 4,000 years ago. </p>
<p>This points to an ongoing practice of cultural burning, as it suggests communities managed fire-sensitive plant varieties, and reduced the chance of high-intensity bushfires by practicing low-intensity cultural burns before the hottest time of the year. </p>
<p>Today, the Mirarr still return to Madjedbebe. Their knowledge of local anme is passed down to new generations, who continue to shape this incredible cultural legacy. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Acknowledgment: we would like to thank the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, the Mirrar, and especially our co-authors May Nango and Djaykuk Djandjomerr.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Florin received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and the Dan David Foundation for this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Fairbairn receives funding from Wenner-Gren and AINSE for this research</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Clarkson has received funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). </span></em></p>
The Kakadu region has gone through immense transformation throughout history. How can archaeological food scraps tell us about how the First Australians adapted?
Anna Florin, Research fellow, University of Cambridge
Andrew Fairbairn, Professor of Archaeology, The University of Queensland
Chris Clarkson, Professor in Archaeology, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/176886
2022-03-24T19:03:33Z
2022-03-24T19:03:33Z
Friday essay: ‘this is our library’ – how to read the amazing archive of First Nations stories written on rock
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453478/original/file-20220322-21-pip6lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=111%2C38%2C3573%2C2722&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Josie Maralngurra touching her hand stencil made when she was around 12. In the background are three white barramundi fish figures with red line-work also created by her father Djimongurr. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Fiona McKeague, copyright Parks Australia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of deceased people.</em></p>
<p>First Nations peoples have lived in north Australia some 65,000 years at least, according to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">archaeological evidence</a>. Their history is among the oldest of any in the world. Until recently, though, academics deemed the pasts of Australian Indigenous people did not really count as history. These pasts were of some other quality, they were not the kind that determined world events and shaped the future.</p>
<p>It might seem strange today for some peoples’ pasts to consist only of “myth” or “memory” but others to have the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-first-nations-people-continue-to-be-historys-outsiders-162762">dignity of “history”.</a>’ But when the academic disciplines we know today were taking shape, writing became the dividing line between whose pasts were studied by which academic experts. The historians took writing. Archaeologists took the rest.</p>
<p>In a way, this division made sense, at least from the perspective of European scholars. The study of written records held in an archive requires one kind of expertise, the study of material culture requires another. </p>
<p>The written record was the domain of historians, and whatever came before writing fell to archaeologists. Historians called their times “history”, and archaeologists (except for “historical archaeologists”) studied the newly-coined “prehistory”.</p>
<p>“Prehistory” covered the entire human past up until Mesopotamians started writing things down, about 5,200 years ago. After that, it gets complicated, as different peoples in different parts of the world adopted written literacies, or not, at various times. “History” had different start dates, depending on the particularities of whether and why people wrote, or encountered others who wrote about them.</p>
<p>Of course, this implicitly meant, for many peoples, that “history” began when European colonisers arrived, bringing their writing with them. And so cultures that used literacies other than written script to know their pasts – oral traditions, art and song – were mistakenly deemed not to have history at all.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/threat-or-trading-partner-sailing-vessels-in-northwestern-arnhem-land-rock-art-reveal-different-attitudes-to-visitors-161586">Threat or trading partner? Sailing vessels in northwestern Arnhem Land rock art reveal different attitudes to visitors</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Archives on stone</h2>
<p>Australia’s First Nations people have been saying, quite clearly, repeatedly and for some time, that they do have archives. For many reasons, colonial archives have not been welcoming or accessible to many Indigenous people (although they are now being reclaimed and repatriated by Indigenous communities).</p>
<p>But First Nations people have their own vast repositories of knowledge of the past, if only more historians cared to listen and understand them as such. One such record is rock art.</p>
<p>As Carol Chong (Wakaman), once declared:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Rock art is our record and our keeping place of our knowledge, lore and culture. Rock art is a powerful link between our country, our past and our people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Patrick Lamilami (Maung) has similarly reported:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our rock art sites are like history books to us that have stories to pass on to future generations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Rock art comes in many forms. Some was left by Creative Beings, like the <a href="https://mowanjumarts.com/">Wandjina</a> in the Kimberley. Most was created by the Old People, the Ancestors. As documents created by observers of happenings, rock art provides evidence about the past. The stunning galleries of art, curated and preserved in rock shelters or across plateaus are therefore also archives. They are collections of records, selectively produced, preserved and maintained. </p>
<p>This archive has its own creators, curators and interpreters, playing a role in the keeping of memory for the community. It can be “read” by those who understand such a text. Like a written archive, it reflects the interests and concerns of that community. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453541/original/file-20220322-20-99d5v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453541/original/file-20220322-20-99d5v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453541/original/file-20220322-20-99d5v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453541/original/file-20220322-20-99d5v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453541/original/file-20220322-20-99d5v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453541/original/file-20220322-20-99d5v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453541/original/file-20220322-20-99d5v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453541/original/file-20220322-20-99d5v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">David Canari painting a black bream in Kakadu in 1985.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul S.C. Taçon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>History on the rock – Quilp’s horse</h2>
<p>Of course, rock art is not the only archive holding records of long Aboriginal pasts. It is only a surface manifestation of the richer archive that is Country itself. The landscape holds the song-lines and stories of the continent. Rock art simply makes this deeper record visible. Indeed, some rock art is itself a manifestation of the Ancestors.</p>
<p>Our forthcoming book is about understanding rock art as an archive, a source of historical knowledge. So, for example, we take this painting near to the Gunbalanya community as a source.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446168/original/file-20220214-24893-1ykm5ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446168/original/file-20220214-24893-1ykm5ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446168/original/file-20220214-24893-1ykm5ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446168/original/file-20220214-24893-1ykm5ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446168/original/file-20220214-24893-1ykm5ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446168/original/file-20220214-24893-1ykm5ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446168/original/file-20220214-24893-1ykm5ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A horse painted by Quilp. Photograph by George Chaloupka, courtesy of Traditional Owner Kenneth Mangiru.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The artist depicted a delicate, light riding horse rather than a heavy working horse. You can see the convex bridge of the horse’s nose and the long head. The carefully outlined eyes and ears give an intimate feeling. This is not a generic horse, but a known horse. The position of the ears may indicate that it is listening backwards, maybe paying attention to her rider.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445842/original/file-20220210-26283-f1lxpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445842/original/file-20220210-26283-f1lxpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445842/original/file-20220210-26283-f1lxpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445842/original/file-20220210-26283-f1lxpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445842/original/file-20220210-26283-f1lxpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445842/original/file-20220210-26283-f1lxpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445842/original/file-20220210-26283-f1lxpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445842/original/file-20220210-26283-f1lxpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Quilp during the early mission era of Oenpelli in the late 1920s. Photograph by Alf Dyer.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The western Arnhem Land community knows and remembers the artist who painted this work: Quilp. He was a Wardaman man, kidnapped by buffalo-shooter Paddy Cahill as a boy after his family was massacred, and taken to west Arnhem. He survived and persisted through the violent colonial period because he was good with horses.</p>
<p>When the rock art is read alongside the colonial archive, with an attentiveness to the presence of horses in the artists’ life, we see a story emerge of Aboriginal people using the colonisers’ animals to carve out opportunities for themselves. We see an affinity, even an intimacy with the strange new beasts, together navigating relationships with the “white boss”, as a form of resilience and, <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/410186">in Quilp’s case, survival</a>.</p>
<p>Reading rock art is not without challenges. Like other complex and sophisticated sources, it requires cultural expertise. Rock art, ultimately, can never fully be “read” and understood without the guidance and permission of its owners, and outsiders could never presume to be the experts. Consider this buffalo painted at Djarrng in west Arnhem Land, for instance. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446182/original/file-20220214-25032-1dmeldb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446182/original/file-20220214-25032-1dmeldb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446182/original/file-20220214-25032-1dmeldb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446182/original/file-20220214-25032-1dmeldb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446182/original/file-20220214-25032-1dmeldb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446182/original/file-20220214-25032-1dmeldb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446182/original/file-20220214-25032-1dmeldb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446182/original/file-20220214-25032-1dmeldb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Painted water buffalo at Djarrng in west Arnhem Land. Photograph by George Chaloupka, taken in the late 1970s.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Timorese water buffalo arrived in Arnhem Land in the mid 19th century after the British brought them to their settlements on the Cobourg Peninsula and Melville Island. When their poorly planned settlements collapsed, they left, releasing buffalo, which quickly multiplied.</p>
<p>For the historian interested in Aboriginal records of the past, it is tempting to read the paintings of the buffalo as a depiction of what was supposedly a disruptive and singular event: the release of the buffalo and their expansion through Aboriginal lands. Could we not assume that an encounter with these beasts provoked Aboriginal artists to record what must have been a bewildering experience?</p>
<p>But those who can read the paintings will tell you something else. Traditional owners see the yellow colour and understand that the artist was expressing belonging in their kinship system; the yellow meant the Yirridjdja moiety. </p>
<p>Yellow ochre itself is the transformed bodily fat of Yirridjdja Ancestral Beings, imbuing the painting with power. So the buffalos are not presented as intruding newcomers to Country. Rather, they are revealed as already embedded in Indigenous ways of relating to Country. The rock art is evidence of a history, but it is not the story one might expect.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453539/original/file-20220322-27-13s63vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453539/original/file-20220322-27-13s63vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453539/original/file-20220322-27-13s63vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453539/original/file-20220322-27-13s63vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453539/original/file-20220322-27-13s63vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453539/original/file-20220322-27-13s63vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453539/original/file-20220322-27-13s63vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453539/original/file-20220322-27-13s63vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kenneth Mangiru at Djarrng in 1992 with two large buffalo still visible in the rock art behind him.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul S.C. Taçon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some art is even invisible. Two Leg Rock in Kakadu National Park is shaped like a pair of human legs. At its pelvis, over the right hip, there is a painting of an important Ancestral Being in the form of a kangaroo. The painting is depicted in bright, stark white pigment – <em>delek</em>. But visitors to Two Leg Rock today will not see it. </p>
<p>Exposed as it was to the elements – with monsoonal rain passing every year – the painting has faded altogether. But the painting is not gone. Those who can “read” and understand the archive that is the rock art of western Arnhem Land assure us that <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-dads-painting-is-hiding-in-secret-place-how-aboriginal-rock-art-can-live-on-even-when-gone-157315">it remains as present</a> as it was the day Billy Miargu traced its outline in 1972. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-dads-painting-is-hiding-in-secret-place-how-aboriginal-rock-art-can-live-on-even-when-gone-157315">'Our dad's painting is hiding, in secret place': how Aboriginal rock art can live on even when gone</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This hidden painting exists in a different kind of time to that of the researchers who charted its linear lifespan of creation and subsequent fading away. Many First Nations people experience and relate to time in different and more complex ways than the linear time assumed by academic disciplines. Rock art exists in times that are unchanging, permanent and always alive and active in the present. This is not the chronology of western archives.</p>
<h2>Transcending academic concepts of time</h2>
<p>The western process of archiving presumes a linear notion of time in its record-keeping practices. Documents are said to progress through a “lifecycle”. The metaphor is cyclical but the concept assumes linearity; there is no rebirth in this cycle. </p>
<p>The documents move from their initial use for which they were created and either transform into “records” as they enter the archive or are destroyed. The creation of the document is disconnected from its use as a record. The researcher is always temporally disconnected from that which they seek to know. </p>
<p>The disciplines of history and archaeology, likewise, presume this kind of time. Archaeology is interested in origins and history, of charting “developments” and “innovation”, “cultural evolution” along a linear timescale. </p>
<p>Academic history, likewise, presumes the times of historicism, where historical “developments” – with cause leading to effect – occur over a linear timeline that is both uniform and universal. Any event in the world can, supposedly, be plotted onto this timeline, like pearls on a string.</p>
<p>Settler observations of the unique Indigenous articulations and ways-of-being in time has led some to conclude that Australia’s First Nations cultures are “timeless”. That is, Indigenous relationships with time supposedly exclude the possibility of a cultural self-awareness that might be called an “historical consciousness”. Such ideas have been grounds on which Indigenous knowledges of the past were excised from “history” and labelled “myth”. </p>
<p>But this is not how Traditional Owners describe and experience time, nor the relationship of rock art to time. The rock art is not timeless but rather connects time, drawing the generations and Ancestors together. They insist that this is history on the rocks, not simply “tradition” or “myth”.</p>
<p>As Wergaia Traditional Owner Ron Marks explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Here, this is our library – this is our art gallery. It warms the heart to know that for thousands of years – stories have been written on rock.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453517/original/file-20220322-19-tevgoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453517/original/file-20220322-19-tevgoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453517/original/file-20220322-19-tevgoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453517/original/file-20220322-19-tevgoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453517/original/file-20220322-19-tevgoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453517/original/file-20220322-19-tevgoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453517/original/file-20220322-19-tevgoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453517/original/file-20220322-19-tevgoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bobby Nganjmirra painting on Injalak Hill. Photograph by Gunther Deichmann.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sharing knowledge across generations</h2>
<p>Josie Maralngurra, (see lead photo), is not a rock art artist herself. Nonetheless, her life story reveals the multilayered ways in which rock art is a “vehicle of memory” and touchstone of her community’s profound historical consciousness.</p>
<p>Josie was born in 1952 in the “bush” (that is, not at a mission or settlement). Her father, Old Nym Djimongurr, was working for buffalo shooters in what today is Kakadu National Park. In the 1950s, when Maralngurra was little, the family worked at Russ Jones’ Arnhem Timber Camp. Maralngurra was also close to the famous rock art artist <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nayombolmi-31703">Nayombolmi</a>, and called him grandfather.</p>
<p>Maralngurra and her family, along with Nayombolmi and his wife, walked Country throughout her childhood. When not staying in stringy-bark huts, they took shelter in the rocks. Maralngurra described her father and grandfather’s habitual painting in rock shelters where the family stayed. </p>
<p>The men “wanted to sit and do paintings all the time,” she said. Painting was part of daily life in the wet season when the family camped in rock shelters. As a child, she witnessed the creation of rock art across numerous sites. </p>
<p>Today, Maralngurra still remembers these journeys and the painting. She tells of when her family visited these sites, how old she was and where she slept. She can remember who came with them, how long they stayed, what they ate. She remembers the details and stories associated with the rock art.</p>
<p>Children like Maralngurra were often present at the creation of rock art. Sometimes they worked to prepare the pigments themselves. Sometimes the process of painting was their entertainment. Maralngurra tells of her work grinding pigment and gathering food and water.</p>
<p>As she helped the old men, she asked them to tell her the stories of their artworks. So she learned the stories of Country, the Ancestors and their exploits, as well as the protocols of how she and her kin must live today. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00293652.2020.1779802">The process of creation of the artwork was her education</a>. </p>
<p>According to traditional western understandings of archives, they should ideally be “by-products” of human activity. That is, they should not be created with their future as a record in mind. It is this unselfconsciousness that enables them to provide rich evidence for past human activity – they are documents created without thought to influencing future historians.</p>
<p>Although it might be assumed that Aboriginal rock art is often created to record events for posterity, that is not often its main function. </p>
<p>Much of the rock art at Kakadu is the residue of education and knowledge sharing. It is also evidence of how Josie’s ancestors passed the time, telling stories as they painted. Some paintings were originally ways for artists to develop their technical skills. Some were painted simply for fun. Other art was created in a ritual context and may be the remains of ceremonial secret knowledge. Either way, the art at Kakadu was created primarily for its immediate uses.</p>
<p>Yet some of the art is future-oriented, created with the express purpose of embedding memory. Sometimes, for instance, the very bodies of children like Maralngurra were represented on the rocks. In some places, Maralngurra’s own hands joined the painting on the rocks. The outline of her child-sized hands are there, along with those of others. They were created by her father Djimongurr by blowing <em>delek</em> – white pigment – onto her hand and rock, leaving a negative shadow print of her hand on the panel.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446162/original/file-20220214-115872-59kcni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446162/original/file-20220214-115872-59kcni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446162/original/file-20220214-115872-59kcni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446162/original/file-20220214-115872-59kcni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446162/original/file-20220214-115872-59kcni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446162/original/file-20220214-115872-59kcni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446162/original/file-20220214-115872-59kcni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Four of Josie’s hand stencils. Photograph by the Pathway project.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hand stencils are present in rock art around the world. Sometimes they were made to record one’s connection to the place, sometimes they are like a signature, “signing the land”. Sometimes they have been altered to form memorials for people who have died. Sometimes they are located in hard to reach places; surely evidence of the agility and daring of the artist. Whatever their intent, they declare to generations thereafter, “we were here”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-is-erasing-the-worlds-oldest-rock-art-159929">How climate change is erasing the world’s oldest rock art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Literally embodying the rocks drew connections between people and landscape, emphasising belonging, and preparing children for their future responsibilities. One generation’s hand-stencils are later witnessed by those to come. </p>
<p>Maralngurra’s life history and experience – the memory of placing her hands on the rockface as a little girl – was inscribed into the landscape, becoming a touchstone for memory. </p>
<p>Rock art is invaluable as an archive for a First Nations history that stretches back millennia. Until now, however, it has not been recognised as such, at least, by non-Indigenous scholars. That is because this Aboriginal archive is a different kind of repository, for a different kind of history, grounded in a different kind of time than the limited pasts many Australians (and academics) are used to knowing.</p>
<p>By their very nature, and by design, these repositories can only be read by and with Traditional Owners to guide. So much the better. We hope that by seeing history on the rocks, history itself might become ever richer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Rademaker receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This research was supported by Ann McGrath’s ARC Laureate (FL170100121).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joakim Goldhahn receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Rock Art Australia (<a href="https://rockartaustralia.org.au/">https://rockartaustralia.org.au/</a>). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul S.C.Taçon receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC). This research was funded as part of an ARC Laureate Fellowship (FL160100123).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally K. May receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This research was supported by Parks Australia (Kakadu). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Maralngurra and Kenneth Mangiru do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Australia’s stunning galleries of rock art are vast repositories of knowledge that can teach us much.
Laura Rademaker, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, Australian National University
Gabriel Maralngurra, Co-manager, Injalak Arts, Indigenous Knowledge
Joakim Goldhahn, Rock Art Australia Ian Potter Kimberley Chair, The University of Western Australia
Kenneth Mangiru, Danek Senior Traditional Owner, Indigenous Knowledge
Paul S.C.Taçon, Chair in Rock Art Research and Director of the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU), Griffith University
Sally K. May, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/174340
2022-01-11T19:16:02Z
2022-01-11T19:16:02Z
Bark Ladies: how women’s Yolŋu bark paintings break with convention and embrace artists’ strong personalities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439956/original/file-20220110-21-1jokdue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2500%2C1867&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Installation view of Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala from 17 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 at NGV
International, Melbourne.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Bark Ladies: Eleven artists from Yirrkala, NGV International</em></p>
<p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story includes names of people who have died.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Bark painting in Yirrkala is a tradition of some antiquity, but it is also one that constantly reinvents itself.</p>
<p>Although traditionally Yolŋu bark paintings and <em>larrakitj</em> (painted hollow poles) belonged in the male domain, by about 1970 the first women artists turned to these art forms. In 1990, the National Gallery of Victoria acquired its first bark painting by a Yolŋu woman artist, Nancy Gaymala Yunupiŋu’s <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/2639/">Bäru story</a> (1990), and over the next three decades it has built up one of the most significant collections of work by Yolŋu women artists in the world. </p>
<p>In recent years, many of these women artists have attained national and international reputations, have been awarded various prizes, and have been the subject of major survey exhibitions in public art galleries.</p>
<p>The show, as one has grown to expect from this gallery, is simply spectacular – dazzling, innovative and very beautiful. As you enter the NGV, the entire entrance foyer is occupied by a huge floor-based installation, Naminapu Maymuru-White’s Milŋiyawuy, (the Milky Way or River of Stars) where the souls of the deceased are turned into stars. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala from 17 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 at NGV International, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This vast expanse of stars painted in white on the black floor is reflected above in a huge mirror so that the visitor is caught physically suspended between heaven and earth. This sets the mood for the whole exhibition as we negotiate a liminal space that lies somewhere between different spheres of being.</p>
<h2>Strong personalities</h2>
<p>Each of the 11 women artists included in this exhibition has their own personal imagery and individual stylistic orientation and, in this, it is an exhibition of strong artistic personalities. Although generalisations may be foolhardy, my impression is that the women artists appear less constricted by the binds of convention and more prepared to follow personal trajectories than their male counterparts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala from 17 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 at NGV International, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dhambit Munuŋgurr – <a href="https://artistprofile.com.au/dhambit-mununggurr/">the blue lady</a> – was badly injured in a car accident in 2005 and in view of her disability was given permission by the community not to gather and grind her own natural pigments but could use commercial acrylic paints. </p>
<p>She works almost exclusively in blue. On her cardboard palette, she has her colours divided into what she terms: “water blue, midnight blue, cobalt blue, ultramarine, Australian blue and Australian sky blue”.</p>
<p>Her bark paintings and <em>larrakitj</em> formed a highlight in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/enthralling-dystopian-sublime-ngv-triennial-has-a-huge-wow-factor-152607">recent NGV Triennial</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/enthralling-dystopian-sublime-ngv-triennial-has-a-huge-wow-factor-152607">Enthralling, dystopian, sublime: NGV Triennial has a huge 'wow' factor</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In this exhibition, in a striking recent painting titled Order (2021), she has tackled contemporary and topical imagery. The curator of the exhibition, Myles Russell Cook, decodes in his catalogue essay the imagery of this painting. It is a portrait of Julia Gillard, the former Australian prime minister, delivering her misogyny speech “surrounded by limp-faced, unnamed, seated politicians. Yolŋu people appear in the bottom left of the composition, storming the parliament in ceremony dancing with spears”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dhambit Munuŋgurr Order 2021. Synthetic polymer paint on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.) 201.0 × 100.0 cm. Purchased with funds donated by Janet Whiting AM and Phil Lukies, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Dhambit Munuŋgurr, courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a vibrancy, chromatic richness and intensity in the painting as there is in much of Munuŋgurr’s oeuvre.</p>
<p>The much-celebrated <a href="https://www.the-national.com.au/artists/mulkun-wirrpanda/%C5%8Badi-ga-gundirr/">Mulkun Wirrpanda</a>, who last year passed from this life, devoted much of her art to preserving traditional knowledge concerning less well-known aspects of bush tucker and passing this on to future generations. The series of her painted barks titled Ŋäḏi ga Guṉdirr have a wonderful solemn majesty and crisp resolution. </p>
<p>As with many artists in this exhibition, there is a confidence and certainty of touch where through her striking designs she reveals her encoded wisdom.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1658&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1658&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1658&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mulkun Wirrpanda Ŋäḏi ga Guṉdirr 2019. Earth pigments on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.). 186.0 x 82.0 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Mulkun Wirrpanda, courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dhuwarrwarr Marika’s Birth of a Nation is a shimmering installation consisting of six huge bark paintings and five <em>larrakitj</em> that carry the Rirratjiŋu <em><a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/shark-people-djapu-painting-and-the-minytji-buku-larrngay-collection/">miny’tji</a></em> design and relate to the landing site of the Djang’kawu Sisters, the major creator beings. </p>
<p>As you stand in front of this installation there is the sensation of being transported onto a different plain of existence. Other works are surrounded by walls of mirrors constantly reminding us of the spiritual and non-earthly frame of reference for much of this art.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Dhuwarrwarr Marika Birth of a nation 2020 on display in Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala from 17 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 at NGV International,
Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Transported from the gallery</h2>
<p>There is always a challenge when displaying Yolŋu art to break from the conventions of the inappropriate white cube gallery and to create a new viewing experience where the audience will feel transported far from the terrestrial realm. In this exhibition, there is as much symbolism in the display with physically dissolving gallery walls, painted floors and numerous reflecting surfaces as there is in the art itself.</p>
<p>Possibly the most unexpected and quirky exhibitor is Eunice Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu with her bark paintings titled I am a Mermaid (2020), New Generation (2021) and My Wedding (2021). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="© Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu, courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1546&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1546&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eunice Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu I am a Mermaid 2020. Earth pigments and recycled print toner on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.). 255 x 57.0 cm.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They are painted in a mixture of earth pigments and recycled print toner with the unexpected combination of pinks and greens. The artist’s father once speared a fish that bled human blood and in a dream he was visited by a mermaid who revealed to him that his wife was with child. His daughter came into this world with the knowledge that she was a mermaid. This and other imagery could keep a whole generation of Freudian psychologists employed for years!</p>
<p>The Bark Ladies exhibition is provocative, absorbing and inspirational – as well as a lot of fun.</p>
<p><em>Bark Ladies shows at NGV International until April 25.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Bark painting in Yirrkala is a tradition of antiquity – but it is constantly reinvented, as this stunning exhibition of contemporary women’s work attests.
Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.