Musings What’s new in culture

AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM

foundation

ON THE ROAD TO

THE MUSEUM IS SET TO REVISIT AND RENEW ITS LINKS WITH THE YUENDUMU COMMUNITY IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.

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Visit one of the world’s most famous landmarks, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and you can enjoy views across to the roof of the nearby Quai Branly Museum, which features a 700-square-metre painting by Aboriginal artist Lena Nyadbi. In Australia, look to the skies and you might see the latest ‘flying art’ – a Qantas 737-800 decorated with a painting by Kimberley artist Paddy Bedford. Aboriginal art, described by critic Robert Hughes as ‘the last great art movement of the twentieth century’, is hard to miss. What is not so apparent however is just how recent Aboriginal art’s place on the world stage is, and how fast the industry has developed. Thirty years ago, the Aboriginal art ‘industry’ barely existed, and even the dot-painting artists from Papunya were struggling to be recognised. Aboriginal art was largely seen as a subject for anthropologists and museums, an ethnographic curiosity with limited aesthetic appeal. In 1981 Johnny Bulunbulun became only the second Aboriginal artist to hold a solo exhibition, a reflection of the tiny commercial market. Throughout all Australian cultural institutions there was only one curator of Aboriginal art and, hardest of all to imagine, the National Gallery of Australia opened in 1981 with no contemporary Aboriginal art either on display or in its collections.

Above

View of bush track at Yuendumu from inside a burnt-out, abandoned car. Photo by Scott Mitchell.

Left

Ceremonial carved emu egg (ngipiri) painted by Judy Nampijinpa. Made of softwood from the Yinirnti tree, it was used in rituals about the Dreamtime Emu. E078376

All Photos by Stuart Humphreys.