BANUMBIRR from BANDIGAN Art
at the Museum of Contempary Art - Sydney.

In parallel with the current MCA Exhibition:
"THEY ARE MEDITATING"
BARK PAINTINGS from the MCA’S ARNOTT’S COLLECTION.

Bandigan Art is exhibiting a unique collection of Morning Star Poles.

.... Through these items we are invited to partake in a journey, a geographical and spiritual journey which tells of an attachment to country so profound that many of us, being so disconnected from "nature" are simply unable to comprehend. Not only are you looking at beautiful objects you are also seeing answers; answers to some of the most profound questions that face humanity during a very turbulent time in human history. You are looking at items that tell of interconnectedness, respect, continuance and peace.....

Dr Michael Edwards  

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Get Inspired!

Get Inspired! Queen Street Art Hop, is a fundraising event for the Sir David Martin Foundation, helping young people in crisis. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation created by the late Governor of NSW, Sir David Martin, who had a dream of “safety, hope and opportunity, for all young Australians.”

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Hermannsburg Potters

“It is probably fair to say that the average Australian has a stereotyped notion of Aboriginal art, whether this involves the dot painting of the Central Desert or the bark paintings of Arnhem Land. Yet Aboriginal artists, like artists anywhere in the world, draw on many sources: on past traditions, on present environment and on their imaginations. Like all contemporary art, Aboriginal art is in the process of evolution – changing as time changes, and as circumstances change.
Artistic freedom – the freedom to range across all areas of human experience – is important to this group of very talented and unique artists at Hermannsburg. They have staunchly resisted any demand to supply a ‘souvenir’ art market, and the decorations on their pots include not only bush tucker and desert creatures, but also things they have seen elsewhere which have sparked their desire to experiment.
The decorated ceramics of the Hermannsburg Potters are a celebration of the boundless capacity of the human mind and spirit. We can only hope that the artists stay firm in their resolve not to be typecast, and that those who may attempt to typecast Aboriginal art will come to realise that it is as diverse as any other contemporary artform”. Betty Churcher AO

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Narputta Nangala Jugadai

“ Paintings by Narputta Nangala Jugadai exemplify the spontaneous and expressive approach she has to her work. She can be very meticulous, as shown in her earlier works, where the richness is built up with intense dotting and colour. In her later works she is more painterly and gestural. Narputta’s paintings refer quite literally to her country and the Tjukurrpa that it embodies.”
Marina Strocchi - Ikuntji Tjuta

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Namundja Brothers

These artists of western Arnhem Land are alchemists of tradition and innovation.
Samuel, Glen and Johnson Namundja are continuing with their ancient tradition of preserving and recording their culture through artistic endeavours.
These brothers live in a landscape empowered by the activity of ancestral beings, these beings have the ability to form the shape of the land and they have left evidence of their presence on the rock in the form of paintings.
Samuel,Glen and Johnson’s paintings are intrinsically linked with their country.
These contemporary paintings declare their heritage in the distinctive and inventive rock art tradition with grace and spirituality.

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Senior women of Ikuntji Art centre

Indigenous/Aboriginal Fine Art from the Central Desert Community of Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff)
Established in 1992, Ikuntji Art Centre and its artists are internationally recognised for the quality of their fine art paintings.

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Papunya Tula Artists

 

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Hermannsburg Potters

Artists:
JUDITH INKAMALA
IRENE ENTATA
CLARA INKAMALA
RAHEL UNGWANAKA
RONA RUBUNTJA
LINDY RONTJI
DAWN WHEELER
VERENA ENALANGA

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Milngiyawuy II
Naminapu Maymuru-White

Winner – Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award -2005 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Arguably North East Arnhem Lands most awarded Artist
In about 1964 Naminapu Maymuru-White began helping her fathers, Narritjin and Nanyin paint their bark paintings and sculptures in their shelter on the beach at Yirrkala Arnhem Land. Amongst the law she learnt during her long apprenticeship was the cycle of the Manggalili clan spirit which lies within the Milngiyawuy River at Blue Mud Bay.
This is the earthly correlation of the Milky Way
The Milky Way is not a distant phenomenon-the extended boundaries of our galaxy- but is closely connected to the world in which Yolgnu live. The Milngiyawuy series takes Naminapu’s work in a new direction synthesising her past experiences and employing the technical mastery she has achieved through working in different mediums and different surfaces to create powerful aesthetic effects.
2005 Winner Telstra NATSIAA Wandjuk Marika Best 3D Work
1998 Joint Runner- Up National Indigenous Heritage Art Award
1996 Winner Telstra NATSIAA Best Work on Paper

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Maningrida Arts & Culture
"New Forms" Fibre Sculpture

Sculptures made from fibre (pandanus or paperbark) are unique to the Maningrida region and pioneer artists Lena Yarinkura and her mother (now deceased) started in the early 1990’s to produce camp dogs and yawkyawks made from stuffed pandanus painted with ochre pigments. Over the last two years a new genre has emerged with a new generation of artists lead by artist Marina Murdilinga. She adapted the technique used to make ‘pandanus bag’ (by looping or knotting the pandanus) to create yawkyawks. She makes a bamboo frame that is then filled with coloured looped pandanus. Other artists such as Joan Namunjdja and Lulu Laradjbi have appropriated the technique to make animals such as stingrays or crocodiles. Another development in the fibre sculpture has been initiated by Terry Butawilya Wilson and Gloreen Campion: painted bamboo or paperbark wyarra spirit figures. The innovation is everywhere: Clara Larabidiwanga is now making fish from stuffed pandanus whereas Lena Yarinkura is experimenting with bamboo and pandanus to create a new representation of wyarra spirits. Maningrida artists are currently taking sculpture to new grounds and this exhibition gives an overview of the current trend.
Reference: Maningrida Arts & Culture

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Kuddtji Kngwarreye “My Country”

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Minymaku Arts , Amata Community SA
Warku Kunpu - “Strong Work

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Fibre Works from Maningrida Arts & Culture
Lena Yarinkura & Bob Burruwal

This exhibition explores the innovative ways in which Aboriginal artists Lena Yarinkura and Bob Burruwal from Maningrida use fibre and other naturally occurring materials for their art practice.
In Arnhem Land, the art of fibre has a long history that goes back to prehistoric times.
The rich body of rock art from the west-central escarpment plateau is evidence of the importance of fibre objects both for utilitarian and ceremonial purposes.
The instrumental role of fibre is also reflected in many myths and stories from the ancestral past.
In the Maningrida region there are at least nine distinct language groups and each group has its own explanation for the creation of their own particular fibre artefacts.
The manipulation of the variety of weaving techniques has been instrumental in the search of new forms.
Artists such as Rembarrnga artists Lena Yarinkura and Bob Burruwal, have extended the medium of fibre even further with their pandanus sculptures or paperbark figures. The yawkyawk (water spirit resembling mermaid) by Lena Yarinkura is made from bodies of pandanus twined in the same technique utilised by weavers when making conical baskets.

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Munupi Arts & Crafts
"Pukupunawu"
‘A goose feathered ball worn by the Tiwi for ceremony’

Tiwi are the indigenous inhabitants of Bathurst and Melville Islands in the Arafura Sea just north of Darwin in the Northern Territory.
Born from this unique environment, Tiwi peoples’ most valuable asset is their culture.
Ceremonial performances are at the core of Tiwi life. these performances bring together all aspects of Tiwi art - song, dance, body decoration, sculpture and painting.
The great strength of contemporary Tiwi artists is being able to translate their culture into visual fine art.
In this exhibition the Tiwi culture is expressed through a blend of conscious and instinctive design, in rich ochre colour.

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Hermannsburg Potters
"Arnanjapera Nunaka" Our World

For wildly unusual Aboriginal art you can’t beat the potters from Hermannsburg, west of Alice Springs. These Aranda ladies have their pieces in collections from Hollywood to Manhattan as well as most Australian Galleries. Call in to Bandigan Art in Queen Street Woollahra to see a rare display of their best work and meet two of the artists at the opening. These pots are sensational- round bellied spheres encircled with Namatjira landscapes and topped with painted desert creatures- goannas, marsupials, and eagles galore.

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Kaltjiti Art and Craft
Artists of Fregon SA
Inaugural Sydney Exhibition

Kaltjiti Arts is a community based aboriginal owned art centre located 350 klms south east of Uluru, Central Australia.
The isolated township where it is located is called Fregon (population c 250 men, women and children) The artists are drawn from Anangu, Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara lands where people are very connected to their culture and traditional languages. The centre was established in the early sixties during the outstation movement, as a place where the women could practice their arts and crafts, while the men worked the cattle.
Connected to Ernabella Arts through the outstation movement until 1974, hooked rugs made from hand spun sheep’s wool, leather moccasins and hand painted cards were some of the original items worked on by the women using the ‘walka’ style
(highly patterned and multi coloured with imaginative and intuitive imagery). Although it has historically been a women’s centre Kaltjiti Arts has not excluded men. The success and trust that has been gained by the organisation has encouraged new artists to use the facility opening the door to the visual recording of very important cultural links.The artworks produced reflect the culture, strengthening it by providing an appropriate vehicle for retelling and recording of the ancestral stories relating to traditional country. It has also encouraged and motivated the professional development of the artists. Therefore the art has evolved to include greater conceptual definition, simplification of pattern and reduced colour palette

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Maningrida Arts & Culture
Sticks and Stones

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Peter Datjin Burarrwanga
"Gika" Tongue of Fire

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Yarliyil Art Centre
Halls Creek WA

 

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Micky Dorrng - Elcho Island
"this is my Djapul, my Wanga"
"my dreaming, my home"

As you may already know Micky was one of the early trail blazers painting out of Elcho Island Art and Craft, Bula’bula Arts Aboriginal Corporation in Ramingining and Milingimbi Arts and Craft, situated in central Arnhem Land. Painters from the region initially sold their works through the Milingimbi Mission. Micky achieved his first solo exhibition in 1983 and is a proud and important part of the MCA’s significant Ramingining collection that is made up of works by artists from the Ramingining and Milingimbi areas. His work was part of the important Native Born exhibition curated by Djon Mundine that opened at the MCA in 1996. Micky's site-specific work was a key feature in the level 1 gallery in the subsequent exhibition in March 2000 Yolgnu Science: Objects and Representations from Ramingining, Arnhem Land. The Native Born exhibition toured internationally to Germany, Spain, Brazil, New York, and Taiwan. Micky travelled to the Sprengel Museum, Hannover in 2001 and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid in 2002 to paint his signature King Fisher design artwork in the gallery spaces and participate in official functions involved with the exhibition. - Keith Munro - Curator Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Programs - Museum of Contemporary Art

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Jilamara Arts and Crafts
Raelene Kerinauia

This is how I feel like painting. I started the comb in the nineties. Well I’d decided to paint with the comb. I saw Pedro. James [James Tipiloura, a carver and Raelene’s partner] made me one when I started working with comb. I use one colour at a time. Some people paint up body and face with a comb”
The compositions Raelene creates are personal creative expressions, without literal meaning, but they do relate to body painting and design for pukumani poles. It is not an inherited design. “It’s imagination but it’s not new”.
Raelene started her artistic career as a fabric screen printer creating animal prints, and graphic designs to print on fabric. She moved on to brushwork using orchres on canvas and ultimately to her fine comb work for which she is recognised.
Raelene’s compositions are thought out while the canvas is blank, she looks and thinks of her design and by the time she has painted the base colour she already knows where her other colours will be placed to create the final effect. “Paint the background and then think about it. Each comb is different. I paint the red comb line first, then red (angle) leave it gap, red, red,red.”
Selected Collections:
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. Launceston Tasmania
Kerry Strokes Collection, Perth
National Museum of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Sammlung Essl Collection, Austria

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Bula'bula Arts - Ramingining NT
Bula Bula Artists Mala

 

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Maningrida Art & Culture
Maningrida Fibre

 

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The art of Terry Yumbulul
"Madayin"

 

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Hermannsburg Potters.
Pottery & Paintings

'Aranda people like to learn and work in new things.
My grandmother learnt to crochet for the church, my uncles learnt watercolour painting, my grandmother Clara was Albert Namatjira's half sister (they had the same mother). And now, in this generation, we are first in pottery and we are travelling the world.' (Clara Ngala Inkamala)

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Mavis Warrngilna Ganambarr

Mavis is the daughter of Mowarra (father) and Gunanu (mother).
She was born at Mata Mata outstation, situated on the mainland and lives at Galiwin’ku Community on Elcho Island with her husband Mark Markurri Bukulatjpi and their five children.
Hunting, fishing, watching TV. and listening to Gospel music are Mavis’ hobbies.
“ Bapa Shepie (missionary) brought me to Galiwin’ku when I was nine years old, so I could go to school.
I was taught fibre art by my grandmother Djukula when I was around nineteen years of age and I have been continually creating weavings since then.
I am very proud of what my grandmother taught me. But now I am making different, new styles from my own ideas.
One day I will teach my children and they will teach their children in the future. It is time for us to do what our people did in the past so that our children will recognize our work in future when they see it”.
Mavis is extremely skilled in creating individually designed, colourful baskets and mats. She makes all her beautiful works with the same attention to detail, using naturally found grasses, shells and feathers. She follows traditional techniques for gathering and treating/dyeing and weaving grasses and has great knowledge and cultural wisdom which she generously shares with others.
In 2001 Mavis had a solo exhibition of her work called Gunga Djama Mirr (Pandanus Work) which was shown in Sydney at Bandigan Art

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