Tag Archives: Yolngu

Video Culture / Museum Culture

Posted on March 30, 2014 by

A pair of new exhibitions opened this past week at the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.  One extends established queries about the nature of objects stored in museums and their relationships to the people they purport to represent.  The other makes … Continue reading →

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Explicating Bark Painting

Posted on March 23, 2014 by

Two years ago, during the turning of 2011 into 2012, I took my customary holiday break from serious thinking and produced a pair of posts in which I looked back at what I thought to be some of the core … Continue reading →

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The Grace of God

Posted on February 2, 2014 by

“How to paint the grace of God?” That is the surprising question with which Wally Caruana opens the essays that introduce this extraordinary compilation of Old Masters: Australia’s greatest bark artists (National Museum of Australia, 2013). A few years back, … Continue reading →

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Yolngu Songmen: Rorruwuy Manikay

Posted on January 5, 2014 by

Last week I shared a couple of clips of Yolngu rock ‘n’ roll from the Seven Star Band, a bunch of rowdy young rockers (and I say that with love in my heart). This week, I want to turn to … Continue reading →

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Yolngu Songmen: Seven Star Band

Posted on December 29, 2013 by

Each year at Christmastime I try to kick back a little and instead of putting together an essay, I try to offer a little lighter entertainment: photographs, or short reading lists, or something similar.  This year, it’s time for some … Continue reading →

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Gamechanger

Posted on October 27, 2013 by

It’s been a decade now since Buku-Larrnggay Mulka and Bill Gregory presented Buwayak: Invisibility at the Annandale Galleries in Sydney, an exhibition that heralded an extraordinary new direction in painting from Yirrkala.  If you look at Yolngu painting from just a few … Continue reading →

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Rakuny ga Walnga

Posted on October 13, 2013 by

Undeniably, the best part of writing a blog, every week for eight years now (I’m astonished to realize), are the introductions it affords me to people around the world, virtually, and especially when I land on the ground in Australia. … Continue reading →

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