Asia Society Museum presents Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala

Asia Society Museum presents Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala, the first major exhibition of Aboriginal Australian bark paintings to tour the United States. On view from September 17, 2024, through January 5, 2025, the exhibition comprises more than 70 modern and contemporary masterpieces from the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia and other major museums and private collections in the United States and Australia, including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Museum and Gallery of the Northern Territory, and the University of Melbourne.

Conceived, developed and curated by leaders of the Yolŋu people of northeastern Australia, Maḏayin places Indigenous voices at the forefront, reinforcing the important role of Indigenous artists in global contemporary art and curatorial practice.

Energetic and spiritual, the paintings—the oldest dating to 1935, others newly commissioned by Kluge-Ruhe from leading Yolŋu Australian artists specifically for this project—feature linear and geometric patterns interspersed with human figures and animals. Depictions of crocodiles, sharks, and kangaroos help tell the story of the Yolngu homelands and show the world a way of life in harmony with other people and the natural environment.

Maḏayin is one of the first exhibitions of Aboriginal Australian art in New York City since Asia Society’s seminal 1988 exhibition Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia and subsequent exhibition The Native Born: Contemporary Aboriginal Art from Ramingining in 2003–2004. “The Dreamings exhibition marked a major turning point in the international reception of Aboriginal art as fine art and has been credited with inspiring John W. Kluge to begin building his collection, leading to the creation of the Kluge-Ruhe Collection,” says Yasufumi Nakamori, Director of Asia Society Museum and Vice President for Arts and Culture. “It is therefore especially fitting for Asia Society to host Maḏayin, one of the largest and most important exhibitions of Aboriginal Australian art mounted in the Western Hemisphere in over 30 years.”

Vivid, intricate, and mesmerizing, the paintings represent a contemporary interpretation of an ancient tradition of Indigenous expression. For millennia, Yolŋu people around Yirrkala in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia have painted their clan designs on their bodies and ceremonial objects. These designs are sacred patterns of the ancestral land. Yolŋu describe them as “maḏayin”—a term that encompasses both the sacred and the beautiful.

In the early twentieth century, Yolŋu turned to the medium of painting on eucalyptus bark, creating shimmering designs using ochre colors with fine brushes made of human hair. These paintings were created for trade; to preserve and share ancestral culture, heritage, and identities; and as acts of diplomacy. The organic irregularities of the medium give each work a dramatic, sculptural presence, with some standing over 10 feet tall.

Recognizing Indigenous authority and leadership, Maḏayin suggests a new model for curatorial partnership between Indigenous people and Western museums, amplifying diverse and previously unheard voices in American museums. “I didn’t know what a ‘curating’ job meant. It was the first time I had heard the word, and the first time it hit my mind, how to do the job of curating,” said Wukun Waṉambi, Yolŋu co-curator of Maḏayin and a participating artist in the show. “No Yolŋu have done that job before, only balanda (non-Yolŋu ) have done it, but in a different way because they have a different way of understanding.”

In recent years, contemporary artists from Yirrkala, such as Nonggirrnga Marawili, Naminapu Maymuru-White, and Gunybi Ganambarr, have been featured in the Venice Biennale, the Sydney Biennale, and the Istanbul Biennale. Their works have been acquired by leading museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern, and the National Gallery of Australia. These artists have shown the contemporary relevance of ancient knowledge and the vital unique contribution that Indigenous arts make to the global contemporary art world.

“The land has everything it needs. But it couldn’t speak. It couldn’t express itself. Tell its identity. And so it grew a tongue. That is the Yolŋu. That is me. We are the tongue of the land. Grown by the land so it can sing who it is. We exist so we can paint the land,” Djambawa Marawili, Yolŋu leader and artist, explained.

Sitting alongside the bark paintings, and showing the continuing innovation and vitality of these artists are two newly-commissioned video installations by acclaimed Yolŋu artist and filmmaker Ishmael Marika of The Mulka Project. The Mulka Project is one of Australia’s leading Indigenous media units and has produced installations for the Sydney Biennale, the National Gallery of Australia, and the National Gallery of Victoria.

The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive 348-page bilingual catalogue (in Yolŋu Matha, and English) distributed internationally by DelMonico Books D.A.P.

A ceremonial launching of the exhibition by a delegation of artists from Yirrkala will take place during the opening festivities. A series of public events are planned throughout the exhibition—including film, lectures, performances, and family events—exploring Indigenous art in Australia and elsewhere, and the role of Indigenous artists in global contemporary art. This programming is part of an Asia Society-wide focus throughout the fall, on Australia’s contemporary society, business, and politics and more.

Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala was organized by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in partnership with the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Australia. The exhibition culminates at Asia Society, following its premiere at the Hood Museum of Art and presentations at American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center, Washington, D.C. (Feb. 4–May 14, 2023), and the Fralin Museum of Art, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, (Feb. 3–July 14, 2024).

Support 
Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Australian Government, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Mellon Foundation, Australia Council for the Arts, the Jefferson Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Crozier Fine Arts. Its presentation at Asia Society is funded in part through the generosity of George and Mary Dee Hicks and the Pratt Foundation; our full list of Madayin supporters is in formation. The exhibition has been made possible through the longstanding relationship between Kluge-Ruhe and the Yolngu community at Yirrkala. More information about the project can be found at madayin.kluge-ruhe.org.

The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia expands knowledge and understanding of Indigenous Australian arts and cultures to cultivate greater appreciation of human diversity and creativity. With a collection of more than 3,600 objects, Kluge-Ruhe offers a variety of rich programming on-site and digitally. Its well-established residency programs bring eminent Indigenous artists and knowledge holders to Charlottesville to engage with the University of Virginia community and the public. Kluge-Ruhe is committed to expanding Indigenous leadership throughout the museum and creating high-value, immersive experiences to serve broader audiences.

Asia Society Museum presents a wide range of pre-modern, modern, and contemporary exhibitions of Asian art and Asian diaspora art, taking new critical approaches to familiar masterpieces and introducing under-recognized arts and artists. The Asia Society Museum Collection comprises a pre-modern art collection, including the initial bequests of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd, and a modern and contemporary art collection, launched in 2007. Through exhibitions and public programs, Asia Society provides a forum for the issues and viewpoints reflected in Asian and Asian diaspora art, culture, and society.

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