Dhuwarrwarr Marika

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Dhuwarrwarr Marika
Born1946 (age 75–76)
Yirrkala, Northern Territory, Australia
Other namesBanuminy
Known for Contemporary Indigenous Australian art, bark painting, printmaking
Parent
Relatives Wandjuk Marika (brother),
Banduk Marika (sister),
Bayngul Marika (sister)
Laklak Marika (sister)
FamilyMarika Family

Dhuwarrwarr Marika (born 1946), also known as Banuminy, a female contemporary Aboriginal artist. She is a Yolngu artist and community leader from East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. She belongs to the Dhuwa moiety of the Rirratjingu clan in the homeland of Yalangbara, [1] daughter of Mawalan Marika. Marika is an active bark painter, carver, mat maker, and printmaker. [2]

Contents

Early life

Dhuwarrwarr Marika, also known as Banuminy, was born in 1946 in Yirrkala, in the East Arnhem Land area of the Northern Territory. She is a member of the Rirratjingu, Miliwurrwurr group and their language is Dhangu. She is part of the Dhuwa moiety. [3] Dhuwarrwarr Marika is the daughter of Mawalan Marika, who was the leader of the Rirratjingu people, one of the contributors to the Yirrkala bark petitions, and the founder of the Marika artistic dynasty. [2] Her siblings are Wandjuk Marika (brother), Banduk Marika (sister), Bayngul, and Laklak. [4] Dhuwarrwarr learnt how to paint from her father, which was unconventional at the time. She learned the art of basketry from her mother and aunt. Her father allowed for her to help him with his painting towards the end of his life, when his health was slowly deteriorating. [5] After consultation with his sons, brothers, and other community elders, Dhuwarrwarr was authorised to paint alongside her father, including the painting of sacred designs. After the death of her father, she took a break from painting and when she expressed interest in continuing, she requested permission from her brothers once again. [2]

She is believed by many (including Howard Morphy and herself) to be the first Yolngu woman to be given permission to paint sacred designs on her own.[ citation needed ]

Career

After graduating from school, Marika worked as a nurse in Yirrkala, Darwin and Sydney before returning home and developing her artistic skills. [6] Her earliest recorded paintings were completed in the 1970s. [6]

Over time, she has become more active in bark painting, carving, mat making, and printmaking. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions around the world from the 1980s onwards, including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. She has also exhibited work in one solo exhibition, which sold out in a matter of five minutes, titled “Milngurr - Sacred Spring” at the Vivien Anderson Gallery in Melbourne in 2008. [2]

In 1999, together with sisters Gaymala and Gulumbu Yunupingu, Marika was engaged to paint a large film set for the film Yolngu Boy , based on the historic Yirrkala Church Panels. [7]

Marika has produced murals for community buildings at Yirrkala, for Darwin Airport, the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, and the Atherton School in Queensland. [6]

Her artistic style combines Rirratjingu sacred designs from her father with more contemporary elements. [5] The mediums that she often uses include earth pigments on stringybark, earth pigments on stringybark hollow poles, pandanus and natural dyes, earth pigments on native hibiscus, earth pigments on ironwood, and print making. [8]

She has created numerous prints at the Yirrkala Print Space at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre. At the Yirrkala Print Space, [9] Marika works alongside other female artists. She considers her artwork as a means of passing her culture to the next generations and a way of sharing her culture with the outside world. [6]

Political involvement

Marika is an executive member and women's council representative for the Northern Land Council. [6] Marika and other members of her family, who were passionate advocates for Indigenous rights, became involved in the Gove Land Rights Case of 1971. [5] This case eventually led to the passing of the first land rights legislation in Australia. [10]

As a senior statesperson for her people, Marika has participated in numerous local and national committees. In 1993, she was invited to Europe as a speaker for the opening of the international travelling exhibition Aratjara - Art of the First Australians. [11]

Collections

Marika's work is featured in major public collections across the world, including:

Significant exhibitions

Awards

Related Research Articles

The Djang'kawu, also spelt Djanggawul or Djan'kawu, are creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in Aboriginal Australian mythology, and concerns the moiety known as Dhuwa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yirrkala</span> Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Its population comprises predominantly Aboriginal Australians of the Yolngu people, and it is also home to a number of Mission Aviation Fellowship pilots and engineers based in Arnhem Land, providing air transport services.

Raymattja Marika, also known as Gunutjpitt Gunuwanga, was a Yolngu leader, scholar, educator, translator, linguist and cultural advocate for Aboriginal Australians. She was a Director of Reconciliation Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She was also a director of the Yothu Yindi Foundation and a participant in the 2020 Summit, which was held in April 2008. Marika advocated understanding and reconciliation between Indigenous Australian and Western cultures.

Wandjuk Djuwakan Marika OBE, was an Aboriginal Australian painter, actor, composer and Indigenous land rights activist. He was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, and the son of Mawalan 1 Marika.

Narritjin Maymuru was a Yolngu people artist and activist noted for Bark painting. He began painting in the 1940s after time as a cook. After decades of work in 1979 he, and his son, became visiting artists at the Australian National University. HIs daughter Galuma Maymuru has become recognised as a significant Australian artist.

Roy Dadaynga Marika was an Aboriginal Australian artist and Indigenous rights activist. He was a member of the Marika family, brother of Mawalan 1 Marika, Mathaman Marika, Milirrpum Marika and Dhunggala Marika.

Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika was an artist and printmaker from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. She was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people, whose traditional land is Yalangbara. She was also an environmental activist and leader, and the first Aboriginal person to serve on the National Gallery of Australia's board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marrnyula Mununggurr</span> Indigenous Australian painter

Marrnyula Mununggurr (1964) is an Aboriginal Australian painter of the Djapu clan of the Yolngu people, known for her use of natural ochres on bark and hollow logs, wood carvings, linoleum and screen print productions.

Nyapanyapa Yunupingu was an Australian Yolngu painter and printmaker who lived and worked in the community at Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory. Yunupingu created works of art that drastically diverge from the customs of the Yolngu people and made waves within the art world as a result. Due to this departure from tradition within her oeuvre, Yunupingu's work had varying receptions from within her community and the broader art world.

Mithinarri Gurruwiwi (c.1929–1976) was an Aboriginal Australian painter of the Gälpu clan of the Yolngu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. His first name is sometimes spelt Midinari, Mitinari, or Mithinari.

Mungurrawuy Yunupingu (c.1905–1979) was a prominent Aboriginal Australian artist and leader of the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu people of northeastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He was known for his bark paintings.

Mawalan Marika (c.1908-1967), often referred to as Mawalan 1 Marika to distinguish from Mawalan 2 Marika, was an Aboriginal Australian artist and the leader of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is known for his bark paintings, carvings and political activism.

Rerrkirrwanga Mununggurr is an artist from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, renowned for her finally detailed paintings on bark. She is the youngest daughter of the artist Djutjadjutja Munungurr who taught her to paint. In the 1990s Rerrkirrwanga finished some of the works attributed to her father. She now has authority to paint her own stories and her large-scale works on bark are in Australian and international collections.

Malaluba Gumana is an Australian Aboriginal artist from northeast Arnhem Land, who has gained prominence through her work in painting and the production of larrakitj, the memorial poles traditionally used by Yolngu people in a mortuary ceremony.

Yalangbara is a coastal area in the East Arnhem (Miwatj) region of Australia's Northern Territory, around 35 km (22 mi) south of Nhulunbuy, the largest town in the area. It is on the country of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolŋu people, and is one of the most significant cultural areas for the Yolŋu because of its role in the creation story of the Rirratjingu clan, based on the Djang'kawu ancestors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wukun Wanambi</span> Yirrkala Aboriginal artist (1962–2022)

Wukun Wanambi was an Australian Yolngu painter, filmmaker and curator of the Marrakulu clan of northeastern Arnhem Land.

Mawalan Marika, also referred to as Mawalan 2 Marika to distinguish from his grandfather Mawalan 1 Marika (c.1908-1967), is a Yolngu artist and land custodian of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is the son of well-known artist and leader Wandjuk Marika, and nephew to Banduk Marika.

Milirrpum Marika, also known as Jacky and also referred to simply as Milirrpum, was a Yolngu artist and community leader from East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory of Australia. He was best known for his involvement in the landmark court case Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (1971), aka the Gove land rights case, which was the first significant legal case for Indigenous land right and native title in Australia and led to the federal Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976.

Mathaman Marika (c.1920–1970) was an Aboriginal Australian artist and Indigenous rights activist. He was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, and one of the well-known Marika family, brother of Mawalan 1 Marika, Milirrpum Marika, Roy Dadaynga Marika, and Dhunggala Marika. Mathaman was second oldest after Mawalan.

Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu was a senior Yolngu artist and matriarch, who lived in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia. She worked at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, where her work is still held, and is known for her graphic art style, bark paintings and printmaking.

References

  1. ↑ "Untitled (Turtle and Fish) by Dhuwarrwarr Marika". Australian National Maritime Museum . Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Dhuwarrwarr Marika". Australian National Maritime Museum . Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "Yolngu Culture". Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  4. ↑ "Banduk Marika". Sites and Trails NT. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 "Dhuwarrwarr Marika". Gallery Gondwana. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 National Museum of Australia. "The Marika family". www.nma.gov.au. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  7. ↑ Angel, Anita (3 February 2011). "(Nancy) Gaymala Yunupingu". Charles Darwin University . Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  8. ↑ "Buku-Larnnggay Mulka Centre" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ↑ "Buku Art Centre: Yirrkala Print Studio". Buku Art Centre. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017.
  10. ↑ Hookey, John (1 March 1972). "The Gove Land Rights Case: A Judicial Dispensation for the Taking of Aboriginal Lands in Australia?". Federal Law Review. 5 (1): 85–114. doi:10.1177/0067205X7200500105. ISSN   0067-205X. S2CID   159400237.
  11. ↑ Mundine, Djon (June 2013). "Ich Bin Ein Aratjara: 20 years later". Artlink. 33 (2): 52–55.
  12. ↑ "Dhuwarrwarr Marika | Artists | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  13. ↑ "NGA collection search results". artsearch.nga.gov.au. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  14. ↑ "Tarnanthi". Mutual Art. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  15. ↑ "Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka: Mittji". Mutual Art. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  16. ↑ "Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery NYC: Grey Areas". Mutual Art. Retrieved 4 May 2020.

Further reading

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