SCULPTURE BOLKIMME | SCULPTURE TODAY New Works from Maningrida Arts & Culture
This page: Senior artists Sonia Namarnyilk & Don Djorlom painting at home in Maningrida
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Owen Yalandja Samson Bonson Sonia Namarnyilk Don Djorlom
SCULPTURE BOLKIMME | SCULPTURE TODAY New Works from Maningrida Arts & Culture
Harvey Art Projects |Sun Valley USA August 2019
Sculpture Bolkkime | Sculpture Today New Works from Maningrida Arts and Culture Central Arnhem artists have been at the forefront of the Contemporary Art movement, engaging Australian and international audiences with their painting and sculpture, which masterfully straddles innovative individual practice, long-standing cultural knowledge systems and social relations of creative production. Sculpture Bolkimme: Sculpture Today debuts in the United States with works by leading Kuninjku and Kunibidji sculptors, Owen Yalandja (Kuninjku), Sonia Namarnyilk (Kunibidji), Samson Bonson (Gurr-goni/Kuninjku) and Don Djorlom (Kuninjku), who specialise in contemporary representation of cultural spirit beings. Aboriginal people of this linguistically diverse region of northern Australia share their country with numerous spirit and Ancestral Creator beings, Djang*, which underpin Aboriginal cosmology, sociality and ceremony, ritual and Law. For millennia people drew upon associated imagery to paint rock surfaces, paperbark shelters, and bodies for ceremony. Sculpture was also common, in the form of sacred objects, ceremonial bodywear, containers such as dilly and string bags, and agricultural technologies such as fish traps. Over the last century, with sustained engagement with settler-colonial Australia and the market economy, creative activity has continued to thrive in line with an awareness of these new interests and influences. The representation of mimih has undergone rapid transformation in this context: its depiction in carved sculptural form for the fine art market is a relatively recent phenomenon. In essence, mimih spirits are tall, slender, fragile beings that inhabit the rocky escarpment regions of Kuninjku country. They are so thin, they can pass through the cracks in their rocky homes and visit the world of humans, although only people with marrkidpu (‘clever’ power) have the ability to see and converse with them. Mimih is also a term used to describe a range of spirit figures that have similar characteristics and are associated with particular sites. In the 1960s, cultural leader and famed singer and performer Crusoe Kuningbal (1922–83) pioneered the songs and dances used in the secular ceremony Mamurrng, a personal creative pursuit that focused on the mimih and its trickster personality. For these ceremonies, he carved life-sized carvings, a scale never attempted before. Kuningbal also broke with tradition in the application of dots to cover the sculpture surface, a marked contrast to the cross-hatching design, rarrk, most commonly used by Kuninjku artists. Typical of the teaching model of the Maningrida region, Kuningbal’s immediate family, his sons Kurddal (1961) and Yalandja (1964), took up the practice under his guidance. Similarly, Samson Bonson (1967) learned from his older brother Kurddal, as did Don Djorlom (1973). As the works in this exhibition demonstrate, Kuningbal’s close kin have adopted and developed this design feature to achieve remarkable detail and finesse.
Owen Yalandja began making mimih in a similar scale to his father in the 1980s, but by the 1990s was primarily depicting yawkyawk, specifically Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk who inhabit a waterhole adjacent to his outstation, Barrihdjowkkeng. Yalandja is now renowned for his selection of shapely softwood branches featuring a dense black base overlaid with intricate white dot work on the upper body and small v-shaped scales on the lower, which evocatively convey the watery being’s scaly sheen. He also applies this delicate patterning to the surfaces of bark, dolobbo, and carved hollow logs, lorrkkon, to create minimal, hypnotic abstract designs. Samson Bonson and Don Djorlom similarly employ minute pointillist decoration and experiment in scale and form to create enormous variety within the limited parameters of the subject matter. Since the 1980s women artists have increasingly become involved in the mediums of painting and carving. While women had previously helped their husbands to complete the more arduous cross-hatching components of bark painting, during this period they were encouraged both by their kin and external art advisers to create works under their own authorship. Sonia Namarnyilk (1969) learned in this way from her husband Djorlom and she has developed a reputation for strong form and bold designs. The creation of spirit beings such as the mimih and yawkyawk is a powerful statement of the artists’ negotiation of the complex cultural space in which they now live. Art-making not only affirms dynamic connections to Country and cultural ways of being but also enables viable and independent engagement in the market economy. As anthropologist Luke Taylor writes, ‘The town [Maningrida] and increasingly the art market is colonised by Kuninjku visions of their distinctive spirit world. In many respects the sculptures are an index of cultural expansion, through the art centre into the town and through the art market to the world. ’ Harvey Art Projects in collaboration with Maningrida Arts & Culture are proud to present this exhibition in Sun Valley, Idaho. We kindly thank our four partiicpating artists Owen Yalandja, Sonia Namarnyilk, Samson Bonson, and Don Djorlom who so generously share the world of the mimih with our US audiences. We also gratefully acknoewlege the wonderful support of manager Chloe Gibbon and staff at Manigrida Afrts and Culture in bringing this extraodinary exhibit to the United States. *Djang is an ongoing, eternal, life-giving transformative power that accounts for every aspect of existence. It also refers to the creation ancestor, the country where spirit resides, and to ceremonial designs and songs that represent that being. **Maningrida Arts & Culture acknowledge the work of many academic and non-academic voices when writing on this topic, it is important to note Luke Taylor, who’s broad research has informed this text -- Chloe Gibbon, Manager.
This page L-R: Samson Bonson, Mimh 189cm (detail) #1956-18 Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih 176cm (detail) #3129 -18 Samson Bonson, Mimih 175cm (detail) #276-19 Opposite Page L-R: Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih 176cm (detail) #3129 -18 Samson Bonson, Mimih 175cm (detail) #276-19
This page L-R: Don Djorlom, Mimih,116cm #1135-19 Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih 112cm #987-19 Opposite page L-R: Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih (detail)112cm #987-19 Don Djorlom, Mimih (detail) 116cm #1135-19 Don Djorlom, Mimih (detail) 60cm #96-18
This page: L-R Owen Yalandja, Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk (detail) 162cm #96-19 Owen Yalandja, Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk (detail) 174cm #3247-18 Owen Yalandja, Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk (detail) 153cm #3125-18 Opposite page: Owen Yalandja, Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk (detail) 57 x 30cm ocher on bark #805-19
This page: Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih (detail) 139cm #2876-18 Opposite page L-R: Samson Bonson, Mimh 189cm #1956-18 Samson Bonson, Mimih 250cm #1567-18 Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih 176cm #3129-18 Samson Bonson, Mimih 215cm #13-14-18 Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih 139cm #2876-18
Right Page L-R: Don Djorlom, Mimih 151cm #2877-18 Samson Bonson, Mimih 175cm #276Samson Bonson, Mimih 189cm #1956 Owen Yalandja, Ngalkodjek Yawkya Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih 176cm #31
Left page L-R: Owen Yalandja, Ngalkodjek Yawkya Don Djorlom, Mimih 60cm #96-18 Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih 215cm #13 Don Djorlom, Mimih 116cm #1135-19 Owen Yalandja, Ngalkodjek Yawkya Sonia Namarnyilk, Mimih 112cm #98
8 -19 6-18 awk 174cm #3247-18 129-18
awk 153cm #3125-18
314-18 9 awk 162cm #96-19 87-19
Owen Yalandja Born 1961 Language: Kuninjku Region: Maningrida, Northern Terrirtoy Moiety: Yirridjdja Subsection: Narritj Kuninjku artist Owen Yalandja is a senior member of the Dangkorlo clan, the custodians of an important yawkyawk site. In the early 1980s, Yalandja learned carving from his father, renowned artist Crusoe Kuningbal who invented, in the early 1960’s the representation of mimih spirit in sculptural form for use in a trade ceremony called Mamurrng. Members of the Darnkolo clan have re-established an outstation community at Barrihdjowkkeng near a billabong that is a Yirridjdja moiety sacred site for the yawkyawk spirits. Yawkyawk or young spirit girls live in this billabong and their shadows can occasionally be seen as they humans who approach. They are girls who transformed into mermaid-like figures with fish tails. The identity of the Darnkolo clan is very much related to the Yawkyawk djang (dreaming) for which they have spiritual and practical responsibility. Yalandja and his brother Crusoe Kurddal followed their father’s legacy but over the years have found their own distinct styles. In the early 1990s, Yalandja experimented with the dot patterns his father taught him, and created V shaped marks to represent the scales of the watery beings. As Yalandja says, “I make it [yawkyawk] according to my individual ideas. My father used to decorate them with dots. A long time ago, he showed me how to do this. But this style is my own, no one else does them like this.” Yalandja continued to innovate, “In the early 1990s Yalanja experimented with the patterns of dots taught to him by his father and created new arrangements; first in arcs to suggest scales, but later he developed small v- shaped marks to suggest individual scales.”1 Yalandja works exclusively with the kurrajong tree for carving and carefully selects trunks which can be thin and curvilinear to give his figures a sinuous appearance. Yalandja’s work is represented in major International collections and has been exhibited at major institutions both locally and globally including at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Australia, Melbourne Museum, Bargehouse Gallery, London and. His work has also been presented at the Venice Biennale, Biennale of Sydney and the National Australian Indigenous Triennial. He is held in Art Gallery of South Australia, Kluge Collection, Charlottesville,Virginia, USA; MAGNT, Darwin; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Australian Museum, Sydney; Museum of Aboriginal Art, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Musee des Confluences, Lyon, France. Themes Yawkyawk Medium Kurrajong Tree (Brachychiton Populneus) with Ochre Pigment and PVA Fixative
Sonia Namarnyilk Born 1969 Language: Ndjébbana Region: Maningrida, Northern Terrirtoy Moiety: Yirridjdja Subsection: Bulanjdjan Sonia Namarnyilk started working orignally at Bábbarra Women’s Centre in 1993. From the early days, Bábbarra has supported the lives of Aboriginal women in the community of Maningrida and on surrounding homelands. The center enables local women to develop and run women-centred enterprises that support healthy and sustainable livelihoods. Sonia has specialized in the production of hand-printed fabric design, and works amongst a highly skilled sewing team. Born in Gunbalanya, Sonia’s fabric designs feature Yawkyawk imagery (female water spirits), turtles and barramundi. She has been working in recent yerars for Maningrida Arts & Culture, making prints on paper, wood carvings and woven fibre art. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She is married to fellow Maningrida artist Don Djorlom. Selected Group Exhibitions 2018 Mardayin - Art Kelch, Freiburg, Germany 2018 From Coast to Escarpment: Spirit Worlds of Maningrida - Michael Reid, Sydney, NSW 2011 Don Djorlom and Sonia Namarnyilk; Mimihs and Yawkyawks, Seva Frangos Gallery, WA Australia 2009 Works in Season: - Works in Season: Bark Paintings, Carvings & Weavings, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW 2009 MACD Group Show - Maningrida Group Show, Maningrida Arts & Culture Gallery, Darwin, NT 2008 Maningrida arts - Maningrida Arts, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW Collections Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Themes Mimih spirit, Yawkyawk Mediums Beach Hibiscus (Hibiscus Tiliaceus) with Ochre Pigment and PVA Fixative Kurrajong (Brachychiton Diversifolius) with Ochre Pigment and PVA Fixative
Samson Bonson Born 1967 Language: Gurrgoni, Kuninjku Region: Maningrida, Northern Terrirtoy Moiety: Yirritjinga Subsection: Narritj Samson Bonson (b.1968), a Gurrgoni sculptor, was taught in the late 1990â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s by Crusoe Kurddal a notable maker of mimih spirit carvings. Bonson is known for the refined carvings and the minute nature of his pointillist decoration on the main body of his mimih carvings. This quality sees his work in high demand. Bonsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work has been selected for the 25th, 26th and 29th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards. Significant exhibitions of his work include Dream Tracks, Aboriginal Art of Arnhem Land (2006) at the La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art in the Kingdom of Bahrain and <<rarrk>> (2006) at the Bargehouse Gallery in London. In 2007 a work was acquired by the British Museum. Selected Exhibitons 2018 Mardayin - Art Kelch, Freiburg, Germany 2017 Stories are Forever, curated by Vivien Anderson Gallery - Merricks Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2016 Maningrida Arts & Culture - Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT 2012 29th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition - MAGNT Darwin, NT 2011 Shalom Gamarana Ngiyani Yana - Waterhole Art, Sydney, Australia 2011 The Dreaming Changes Shape - Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia Collections Bristish Museum, London Laverty Private Collection, Sydney Themes Mimih Spirit, Yawkyawk Mediums Leichhardt Tree (Nuclea Orientalis) with Ochre Pigment and PVA fixataive
Don Djorlom Born 1973 Language: Kuninjku Region: Maningrida, Northern Terrirtoy Subsection: Bulanj Don Djorlom (b. 1973) began exhibiting his delicate, carved wooden Mimih and Yawk Yawk figures in the mid 1990â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. He has since proved to be innovative with his remarkable precision, subtle finishes and delicate pointillism resulting in unique, elegant sculptures. Don has shown both locally and internationally at highly regarded spaces such as the Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery in Melbourne, Cooee Art Gallery in Sydney and Galerie Kouwenhoven in the Netherlands. His work was selected for the 26th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in Darwin. Selected Exhibitons 2018 Mardayin, Art Kelch, Freiburg, Germany 2017 Stories are Forever, curated by Vivien Anderson Gallery, Merricks Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2016 Maningrida Arts & Culture, Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT 2012 29th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, MAGNT, Darwin, NT 2011 Shalom Gamarana Ngiyani Yana, Waterhole Art, Sydney, Australia 2011 The Dreaming Changes Shape, Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia 2010 Best of Maningrida, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia Collections Walonia Aboriginal Art, Netherlands Kluge Collection, Morven Estate, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA Themes Yawkyawk Mimih spirit Mediums Beach Hibiscus (Hibiscus Tiliaceus) with Ochre Pigment and PVA Fixative Kurrajong (Brachychiton Diversifolius) with Ochre Pigment and PVA Fixative
JECTS.COM On view August - September 2019 Harvey Art Projects 659 Sun Valley Road | Ketchum ID USA info@harveyartprojects.com | 208.309.8676 All images courtesy Maningrida Arts & Culture 2019 Essay courtesy Chloe Gibbon, Maningrida Arts & Culture 2019