NOW OPEN
BANDARR WIRRPANDA: WÄŊA-WAṮAŊU
2 SEPT - 1 OCT
Presented in collaboration with Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala NT
From the catalogue essay:
The artworks Bandarr has produced for this exhibition appear to be in a very different genre. The medium is discarded sheets or pieces of metal collected by the artist and then etched through the painted surface using a rotor drill with a tungsten bit to reveal a shimmering and dynamic finish. Sometimes in the case of old signs the artists use the existing painted surface in other cases, they begin by painting the metal sheet overall in a single colour. It does not take long to see how this newly invented Yolŋu medium fits in with the trajectory of Yolngu art history and practice. The artists are determined to continue to practice art using knowledge and materials coming from their land and express their determination to be wäŋa wataŋu - the holders of the land. The artists themselves see the discarded material coming from their land just as the bark from the trees and the ochres. Artists talking about the work do so in precisely the kind of way that Bandarr talks about historic barks, pointing out synergies in design and connection to place and to the wäŋa wataŋu. The linear precision and touch required in engraving the designs, the sense of form that allows depth and movement to be created in a flat or distorted metal surface and the sensibility to the effect of light-catching variations in the thickness and angle of the engraving, all have their analogues in the crosshatching on the surface of bark paintings with earth pigments.
Professor Howard Morphy (BSc, MPhil London, PhD ANU, FASSA, FAHA, CIHA), June 2023
