Nonggirrnga Marawili
Nonggirrnga Marawili | |
---|---|
Born | c.1939 |
Died | October 2023 |
Spouse | Djutadjuta Mununggurr |
Children | 3, including Marrnyula Mununggurr and Rerrkirrwanga Mununggurr |
Parent(s) | Mundukul Marawili (father), Balungguwuy Gurruwiwi (mother) |
Nonggirrnga Marawili (c. 1939–2023) was an Australian Yolngu painter and printmaker. She was the daughter of the acclaimed artist and pre-contact warrior Mundukul.[1] Marawili was born on the beach at Darrpirra,[2] near Djarrakpi (Cape Shield), as a member of the Madarrpa clan.[3] She grew up in both Yilpara and Yirrkala in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory,[4] but lived wakir', meaning her family would move frequently, camping at Madarrpa clan-related sites between Blue Mud Bay and Groote Eylandt.[5] Marawili died at Yirrkala in October 2023.[6]
Career
Marawili learnt how to paint on bark in the 1980s while assisting her late husband, Djutadjuta Mununggurr, with his artwork depicting his designs from clan, Djapu.[3] During this time, they both played an integral role revitalising Yolngu art practice, which had grown stale due to repetitiveness and the tourist market.[2] In her practice she depicts the sacred forms from her Madarrpa heritage and the stories shared with her by her father, Mundukul, and late husband.[7]
Marawili's printmaking career started after art-coordinator Andrew Blake opened the Yirrkala Print Space in 1995.[2] These prints feature both aspects of daily life and aspects of various clans including Djapu, Madarrpa and Galpu.[3] Between the years of 1998 and 2015 she has created 21 prints including screen prints, etchings, and woodblock prints. Some notable print works of hers are Garrangali (1998), Bäru (1999) and Guya (2001).[2]
Blake also brought back the tradition of "big barks" at Yirrkala which renewed the community's interest in bark painting. This led Nonggirrnga to her first solo commission, Banumbirr, Morning Star, in 1994. She, then, was commissioned by John Kluge in 1996, creating Djapu, Galpu Ties which was a collaborative work with fellow artists Rerrkirrwanga and Marrnyula Mununggurr. As the name suggests, this work was about ties between her husband's clan, Djapu, and her mother's clan, Galpu.[2][8]
While she began her career in the 1990s, Marawili only began painting regularly in 2005. After encouragement from the art-coordinator Will Stubbs, she created Wititj (2005) and Untitled (2005) which demonstrate her ability to not paint strictly traditional designs but rather subtly reference them. Works like these demonstrate Nonggirrnga's Yolngu ability to "acknowledge that change happens on the surface [and] embrace it imaginatively and productively. But...view the principles and laws laid down by the ancestral beings as an eternal template that underpins their stewardship of their country."[2]
In 2011 she began to paint at the courtyard of
Marawili was a two-time winner of the bark painting prize at the
The barks featured in Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia depict lightning, water, fire, and rock, which are key to sacra, or Madarrpa sacred laws; however, she deviates from conventions of traditional painting. She once said "The painting that I do is not sacred. I can’t steal my father’s [sacred Madarrpa] paintings. I just do my own designs from the outside. Water. Rock. Rocks which stand strong, and the waves which run and crash upon the rock. The sea spray. This is the painting I do... But I know the sacred designs". However, since 2015 she has been granted the ability to paint some clan designs that connect the Madarrpa to the estate of Baratjula which was a seasonal camp for Marawili as a child and is associated with ancestral trade with
In 2019 an exhibition titled Nonggirrnga Marawili: From My Heart and Mind was held at the
Marawili's works are held in the collections of the
Significant exhibitions
- 2013: And I am still here. Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
- 2015: All watched over. James Cohan Gallery, Manhattan, NYC[citation needed]
- 2016-2019: Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia. Newcomb Art Museum, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA; Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; and the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.[20]
- 2017: Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT.[21]
- 2018-2019: Nonggirrnga Marawili: From My Heart and Mind. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.[22]
- 2020: By the Strength of Her Skin. Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia.[23]
- 2020: Nirin: The 22nd Biennale of Sydney. Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW.[24][25]
- 2022-2025: Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College; American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center; Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia; and the Asia Society in New York City[26][27]
Collections
- Art Gallery of New South Wales[28]
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York[29]
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
- National Gallery of Australia[30]
- National Gallery of Victoria[31]
- Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia[32]
References
- ^ a b Ryan, Judith (6 July 2017). "Nonggirrnga Marawili Lightning in the rock". National Gallery of Victoria.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Skerritt, F. H. (2013). When Time's Arrows Collide: Historical Critique in Indigenous Contemporary Art (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.
- ^ a b c d e f Spilia, Elinia (2016). Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia. Prestel Publishing. pp. 34–42.
- ^ a b Art Gallery of NSW (10 December 2013). "Yirrkala drawings - Nonggirrnga Marawili". Youtube.
- ^ a b "Noŋgirrŋa Marawili". Biennale of Sydney. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ "Ms N. Marawili". National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ "Nonggirrnga Marawili Lightning in the rock | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ a b Henry Skerritt, “The Country Speaks through Her,” in Noŋgirrnga Marawili: From my Heart and Mind, edited by Cara Pinchbeck (Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2018).
- ^ Attwood, Alexia (9 August 2019). "Statue of Liberty on bark takes out Indigenous art award". ABC News. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Noŋgirrŋa Marawili :: Art Gallery NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ McDonald, John (8 February 2019). "Art: Nonggirrnga Marawili". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- OCLC 1037275583.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link - ^ "Marawili, Nanggirrnga". artsearch.nga.gov.au. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Nonggirrnga Marawili". Auckland Art Gallery. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Lightning | MCA Australia". www.mca.com.au. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "The MET150 Yidaki (didjeridu)". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Collections". Kluge-Ruhe. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Nonggirrnga Marawili | Artists | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Works by Noŋgirrŋa Marawili :: The Collection :: Art Gallery NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia". Nevada Museum of Art. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Defying Empire". nga.gov.au. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Noŋgirrŋa Marawili". Art Gallery NSW. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "By The Strength of Their Skin". Second Street Gallery. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ "Noŋgirrŋa Marawili". Biennale of Sydney. 14 December 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "22nd Biennale of Sydney". MCA Australia. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala". University of Virginia. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala". The Fralin Museum of Art. 2 February 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "Search results :: The Collection :: Art Gallery NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Search the Collection: Nonggirrnga". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "NGA collection search results". artsearch.nga.gov.au. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Nonggirrnga Marawili | Artists | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Collections". Kluge-Ruhe. Retrieved 22 April 2020.