Jumat, 29 Mei 2020

Coronavirus restrictions are easing, and now this NT gallery is marking two milestones - ABC News

At the age of 75, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, an artist from remote east Arnhem Land, has reached a milestone as the star of a major new exhibition at Darwin's Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT).

A collection at the gallery this month featuring more than 60 of Ms Yunupingu's works is the first time MAGNT has held a solo exhibition for an Aboriginal artist.

"I will be going to Darwin and taking my painting with me, and when they see this design, the balanda [non-Indigenous people] will be very excited and want to shake my hand," she told the ABC from her community of Yirrkala in Arnhem Land.

Exhibition curator Luke Scholes said the solo exhibition was important recognition for the artist.

"It's long overdue. It's history making," he said.

"The gallery is acknowledging over the last decade that artists have been able to distinguish themselves, and female Indigenous artists are leading the charge," he said.

An artwork of wild Australian bush apples
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu has worked in the remote community of Yirrkala for more than two decades. Here is a painting of wild bush apples, which she goes out to pick with members of her family.(Supplied: MAGNT)

Memories form part of the story

Ms Yunupingu, from the renowned Buku Larrnggay Mulka art centre in Yirrkala, has worked as an artist for more than two decades and the exhibition includes paintings, sculptures and screen-based work.

For Ms Yunupingu the exhibition is a mix of personal memories, and expressions of "just doing".

"I have memories when I was young of being with women from my family at the beach. There are memories here," she said.

"There are stories, and there are works of just doing, of feeling good in just creating."

An image of an artwork.
The moment the artist recalls being gored by a wild buffalo in 1975, re-told through a series of paintings.(ABC News: Henry Zwartz)

Some of the memories show the artist with her granddaughters gathering bush apples.

Other pieces in the exhibition document her near-death experience in 1975 when she was gored by a wild buffalo.

One of her works depicting that experience received a Wandjuk Marika Memorial Prize in 2008, at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

She has since refused to paint about that moment, or talk about it, since a nightmare about that experience on the evening she won that award, but agreed for the pieces to be included in the collection on show.

An Indigenous artist in the midst of painting.
The Arnhem Land based artist at work. She moves around her larger artworks while painting, creating different angles within one frame.(Supplied: MAGNT)

Will Stubbs, the coordinator of the Baku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, said what made the artworks unique was that much of it reflected on the artist's personal experiences.

"This body of work is a significant part of a significant story. There is an immense richness to Indigenous art, but this underlines its variety," he said.

Mr Stubbs said the gallery's decision to showcase her work was a "milestone".

"It is hard to put this into words, there is a sense of pride in this," he said.

Inside exhibit MAGNT 1
Private owners helped provide some of the artwork, which was transported from as far as Melbourne and Miami.(ABC News: Henry Zwartz)

Exhibition a 'milestone' amid COVID-19 pandemic

The exhibition is a milestone that nearly did not happen amid the coronavirus pandemic with lockdowns delaying it by more than a month.

It had initially been due to be announced on International Women's Day and to open in April, but coronavirus restrictions closed the gallery.

"It was a challenging and dark time, we were on the cusp of this enormously important show, not just for the NT but for the country, and then the pandemic hit," Mr Scholes said.

"We had to maintain physical distancing while putting up these artworks, which was incredibly difficult. It took a bit over three weeks to install."

MAGNT is one of the first galleries to reopen as coronavirus restrictions ease around the country.

An image of an artwork
Some of the artworks are very large, up to several metres wide. And many of them are painted on bark.(Supplied: MAGNT)

With the existing travel restrictions in place around Australia, much of the audience for the show will be people from the NT.

"Prior to coronavirus I remember thinking what a rare opportunity this was to develop this exhibit and share it, now you can only see it as an even more precious thing," Mr Scholes said.

"It's a beautiful thing. After that uncertainty, when everything shut down. That we now have this story of celebrating this unique artist."

Restrictions on travel within the Northern Territory mean Ms Yunupingu has not yet travelled to Darwin to see the exhibition but when the NT's biosecurity zones lift, she hopes she will manage to see it.

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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiWGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA1LTMwL2V4aGliaXRpb24tY2VsZWJyYXRlcy1hcm5oZW0tbGFuZC1hcnRpc3QvMTIwMTgyODDSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTIwMTgyODA?oc=5

2020-05-30 01:01:35Z
CAIiEELI4HpnF2vFDwUUKguRI88qFggEKg4IACoGCAow3vI9MPeaCDDciw4

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