Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala

17 September 2024 - 05 January 2025

This work is painted in shades of brown: ochre, walnut, and golden brown and a creamy white. Five figures from the waist up are positioned horizontally shoulder to shoulder in the center of this vertical painting. Behind and among them are bold wavy columns. Markings that look like foot prints climb within the columns in the lower half of the composition. Standing rectangles border the work at top and bottom. The work is mount on wooden sticks.

Yäma Munuŋgirritj, ca. 1920–1987. Yarrwiḏi-Gumatj clan. Gurruŋawuy, 1961. Natural pigments on bark. H. 28 x W. 15 in. (71.1 x 38.1 cm). Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. Edward L. Ruhe Collection, Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997. 1993.0004.041

The New York Times

Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala presents a watershed moment in global art history, sharing with the American public a history of Aboriginal Australian bark painting curated by Yolŋu knowledge holders from Arnhem Land in Northern Australia. For millennia, Yolŋu have painted their sacred clan designs on their bodies and ceremonial objects. These designs—called miny’tji—are not merely decorative: they are the patterns of the ancestral land itself. Yolŋu describe them as maḏayin: a term that encompasses both the sacred and the beautiful. In the early twentieth century, they turned to the medium of painting with natural pigments on eucalyptus bark, creating shimmering artworks to share their identities through trade, political activism, and diplomacy. Expressing the power and beauty of their culture, these artists continue to find new and innovative ways to transform their ancient clan designs into compelling contemporary statements.

Led by Yolŋu knowledge holders and their world views, Maḏayin offers a rare opportunity for American audiences to experience an evocative and enduring artistic movement, with parallels to modes of abstraction in other movements within modern and contemporary art history.

Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala is organized by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in partnership with the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in Australia. The exhibition’s presentation culminates in New York at Asia Society, which has been instrumental in the advancement of this art since organizing the 1988 presentation Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, one of the first in-depth exhibitions of its kind in the United States.

Drawn from the world’s most important holdings of Aboriginal bark paintings, including the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, the University of Melbourne, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and the National Gallery of Australia, Maḏayin encompasses eight decades of artistic production at Yirrkala, from 1935 to the present, including 33 new works commissioned especially for the exhibition through the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre.

Select Works

Vertical painting with various shades of brown and ocher; triangular shapes form bands at top, middle and aloong the right side. Anmials, such as snakes, turtles and other reptiles are inside columns inside rectangles.

Woŋgu Munuŋgurr, ca. 1880–1959; Gupa-Djapu' clan
Sacred Miny'tji, 1935
Natural pigments on bark
H. 56 5/8 x W. 23 7/8 in. (143.8 x 60.6 cm)
Donald Thomson Collection, The University of Melbourne

Browns, ochers, and whites fill the vertical painting with gridlike paterns encased in various rectangles. Human figures and animals appear throughout. There are two large circles in the top center; the one on the left has what looks like a peace sign in it.

Woŋgu Munuŋgurr, ca. 1880–1959; Gupa-Djapu' clan
Djapu Miny'tji, 1942
Natural pigments on bark
H. 74 1/2 x W. 41 7/16 in. (189.2 x 105.3 cm)
Donald Thomson Collection, The University of Melbourne

Vertical painting in browns, ocher and white. Linear designs and semi circles. In the upper portion of the painting, rows of fish swim in concentric layers aroung a white open circle.

Ralwurrandji Waṉambi, 1959–2013; Marrakulu clan
Bamurruŋu, 2001
Natural pigments on bark
H. 64 x W. 30 1/2 in. (162.6 x 77.5 cm)
Collection of Richard Klingler and Jane Slatter

Vertical painting in shades of brown, ocher and white. Vertical and horizontal linear patterns densely cover the paitning. At the top of the work, the Statue of Liberty stands atop what looks like an organic shape; a kangaroo and a bird are in the lower lefthand corner.

Djambawa Marawili AM, born 1953; Maḏarrpa clan
Americalili Marrtji (Journey to America), 2019
Natural pigments on bark
H. 106 5/16 x W. 39 3/8 in. (270 x 100 cm)
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.
The 2017–2019 Kluge- Ruhe Madayin Commission.
Museum purchase with funds provided by
Geoffrey and Virginia Hassell, 2020, 2020.0001.001

Patterns of angular waves in light and dark browns and creamy white cover the canvas by radiating out from the top and bottom of the image and from both the left and right sides towards the center of the image.

Gunybi Ganambarr, born 1973; Ŋaymil clan
Garraparra, 2018
Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
H. 64 3/16 x W. 21 1/4 x D. 2 3/8 in. (163 x 54 x 6cm)
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.
The 2017-2019 Kluge- Ruhe Maḏayin Commission. Museum
purchase with funds provided by Lilla and Chris Ohrstrom,
2023, 2023.0013.001

This large canvas is painted with browns, muted reds, burnt orange and creamy whites and yellows. Large concentric circles at the top half of the canvas lie atop arching groups of diagonal lines the come from all sides of the canvas. An open square and a solid inverted U shape are in the bottom half of the canvas. All shapes are outlined in white dots.

Noŋgirrŋa Marawili, born ca. 1939; Maḏarrpa clan
Baratjala, 2018
Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
H. 63 25/32 x W. 44 1/2 in. (162 x 113 cm)
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University
of Virginia. The 2017-2019 Kluge- Ruhe Maḏayin
Commission. Museum purchase, 2020, 2020.0007.002

Alternating horizontal rows of black and gray fill white stars are stacked vertically from top to bottom of the canvas.

Naminapu Maymuru-White, born 1952; Maŋgalili clan
Milŋiyawuy (Milky Way), 2019
Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
H. 84 21/32 x W. 36 7/32 x D. 2 15/16 in. (215 x 92 x 7.5 cm)
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.
The 2017-2019 Kluge- Ruhe Maḏayin Commission. Museum
purchase with funds provided by Ursula Sullivan and
Joanna Strumpf of Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art, and
Elizabeth Kingdon and Michael Rowe, 2022, 2022.0007.001

This canvas, painted in bright blues, blacks, creams, and whites, is filled with people in canoes, octopuses, sharks, and stars. The objects are texturized with cross-hatch patterns and polka dots.

Dhambit Munuŋgurr, born 1968; Gupa-Djapu' clan
Bänhdharra (Ocean), 2019
Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
H. 78 11/32 x W. 42 17/32 in. (199 x 108 cm)
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University
of Virginia. The 2017-2019 Kluge- Ruhe Maḏayin
Commission. Museum purchase with funds provided
by Roslyn Oxley OAM and Tony Oxley OAM,
2020, 2020.0007.001

Introduction

Narritjin Maymuru. ca. 1916–1981; Maŋgalili clan. Yiŋapuŋapu (Sand Sculpture for Yirritja Mortuary Ceremonies), before 1972. Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark. H. 38 3/8 x W. 21 in. (97.5 x 53.3 cm). Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. Edward L. Ruhe Collection. Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997, 1993.0004.857

In October 2015, artist and leader Djambawa Marawili visited the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. As he continued his travels around the United States, Djambawa saw many bark paintings by Yolŋu people in storage at museums. A fire came into his chest, and he determined that an exhibition should be staged to reconnect with these paintings and tell the full story of Yolŋu bark painting.

The oldest work in this exhibition dates to July 1935, but the patterns and designs in these paintings are much older. They were laid down on Country when the first ancestors passed through the land, naming it. The designs tell of our identity, our kinship, and our destiny.

The paintings in this exhibition are family. They belong to a system we call gurruṯu, which unites everything in the universe. Every place, every person, every animal, everything has gurruṯu. In this system, everything is divided into two complementary halves: Dhuwa and Yirritja. As you walk through the exhibition, these groups might appear separate, but they are all connected by songlines, ceremony, and kinship. We work together to keep the gurruṯu system strong.

We have shared these paintings to give you an understanding of our world. If you are expecting to learn everything about the meanings of the many miny’tji (designs) and how they relate to song cycles and ceremony, then you are mistaken. We cannot explain everything. Like the surface of the water, beneath is an ocean of knowledge. We can only show you the surface.

This exhibition is our gift to you. We are showing you our maḏayin (the sacred), sharing with you the strength that comes from our Country and kinship. We carry this strength forward today in our paintings, ceremony, and Law. Nhäma ga ŋäma—look and listen—these are our foundations, entrusted to us by our old people. These are the ancestral relations that connect us. Know that our system is strong.

—W. WAṈAMBI (1962–2022)

The Story Begins

This black-and-white photograph shows a man in the center sitting on the sandy ground outdoors with large bushes behind him. He has a rectangular canvas strewn across his lap. It is about the size of a beach towel. Between his lips, the man is holding a stick which, presumably is being used as a paint brush.

Woŋgu Munuŋgurr, Gurka’wuy, painting Maḏayin Miny’tji (Sacred Clan Designs), 1935, in the Northern Territory, Australia, 1935. Photograph by Donald Thomson. Courtesy of the Thomson family and Museums Victoria.

In September 1932, five Japanese fishermen were killed after disrespecting elders of the Djapu’ clan at Caledon Bay. After a police expedition was dispatched to investigate, Constable Albert McColl was also killed. Four Yolŋu men were arrested and taken to Darwin for trial. Three brothers, Mäw’ Munuŋgurr, Natjiyalma Munuŋgurr, and Ŋarkaya Munuŋgurr—sons of the great Djapu’ clan leader Woŋgu Munuŋgurr—were convicted of killing the fishermen and sentenced to life in prison. A fourth man, Dhäkiyarr Wirrpanda, was acquitted, but disappeared mysteriously after being released, presumed by many to have been murdered by associates of McColl.

As tensions mounted, the anthropologist Donald Thomson offered to travel to Arnhem Land on a peace mission. He met with Woŋgu in July 1935, and the pair built a relationship of trust. Thomson facilitated the exchange of mäk (message sticks) between Woŋgu and his three sons in prison and negotiated their release. In return, Woŋgu agreed to maintain peace in northeast Arnhem Land.

The painting in this photograh, Maḏayin Miny’tji, was created by Woŋgu in July 1935 and is included in the exhibition (see it under "Selected Works"). It is the first of several masterpieces that he and his sons painted for Thomson. Woŋgu used the term miny’tji to describe elements of the painting, distinguishing between the “purely ornamental” and those patterns with special significance. This work represents a turning point in the history of cross-cultural relations in Australia and in global contemporary art. This is the first time Maḏayin Miny’tji has been exhibited outside of Australia.

—W. WAṈAMBI WITH HENRY SKERRITT AND KADE MCDONALD

Gurruṯu: The World of Yolŋu Relations

Three vertical sections depict humans. In top section, a man is holding to long club-like objects and stands akimbo among trees. Directly below him in the second section, a woman and her mirror reflection are giving birth to multitudes of babies. In the third section, two mirror images of a woman are surrounded by intricate designs and shapes, including circles, lines, and tear-shaped objects. The colors of the painting are shades of brown and a creamy white.

Wandjuk Djuwakan Marika, ca. 1927–1987; Rirratjiŋu clan. The birth of the Djang'kawu children at Yalangbara, 1982. Natural pigments on bark. H. 57 7/8 x W. 25 5/8 in. (147 x 65.1 cm). Museum purchase, 1983, National Gallery of Australia

Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala was curated by Yolŋu according to our kinship system: gurruṯu. Having knowledge of our worldview will help you appreciate and comprehend this exhibition.

We think of gurruṯu as raki (string): a string that connects us. Raki links all Yolŋu people across northeast Arnhem Land. We have a gurruṯu connection even to Yolŋu we have never met. This raki also extends to the land, the sea, and the creatures and plants that live there. Yolŋu are connected to everything in our world through gurruṯu. We belong to the land; that’s why we have great knowledge of the land and sea and what they can provide for us.

All Yolŋu belong to one of two complementary groups (or moieties) called Dhuwa and Yirritja. Yolŋu must always marry the opposite moiety. A Dhuwa man can only marry a Yirritja woman and vice versa; a Yirritja man can only marry a Dhuwa woman. Yolŋu children always take on their father’s moiety.

Each artist in this exhibition belongs to one of sixteen clans, of which eight are Dhuwa and eight are Yirritja.

–DELA MUNUŊGURR AND DHUKUMUL WAṈAMBI

Yothu-Yindi refers to the relationship between mother and child. This relationship is the closest one across Dhuwa and Yirritja.

Märi-Gutharra refers to the relationship between maternal grandmother (mother’s mother) and grandchild. Often called the “backbone” of the gurruṯu system, it is the most important relationship within the same moiety.

Women Are Strong Knowledge Holders

This canvas comprises 299 small rectangular pieces of varying sizes of bark in browns, reds, and whites. Each of the pieces is covered in finely rendered netlike grids. The myriad pieces are arranged in three concentric rectangles that fill the canvas.

Marrnyula Munuŋgurr, born 1964; Gupa-Djapu' clan. Djapu' Miny'tji (Djapu’ Clan Design), 2019. Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark. H. 132 x W. 84 in. (335.3 x 213.4 cm). Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. The 2017-2019 Kluge- Ruhe Maḏayin Commission. Museum purchase with funds provided by the William Alexander and Terrence Sykes, 2021, 2020.0002.001.001-.299

In the beginning, it was only men who painted. But now, there are many women painters. It started like this: if a woman’s father or husband was an artist, and he got tired, he would give the painting to his daughter or one of his wives, and they would help. That is how I learned, helping my father (Djutjatjutja Munuŋgurr) and then my mother (Noŋgirrŋa Marawili) with their bathala ṉuwayak (big bark paintings). I learned from them, because they needed someone to help them, but also, so that I could become an artist for the future.

Women have risen as painters because they have their own style. They are telling their stories in their own way; like my mother, she loved painting. She painted Yirritja paintings, but in a different style, from her heart and mind. My mother would sit in the courtyard at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre with the other old women (such as Gulumbu Yunupiŋu, Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu, and Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda). They would sit together, telling all the stories, like the old people did.

Today, when I go into the art center, and sit there, I can still see those old ladies sitting around with marwat (hair-string brushes). It reminds me of my mother, and her strength. I can see her in the miny’tji (paintings). She is still there. Now my nieces help me to paint on bark. That is how they are learning. When we sit together, telling all the stories, I feel like I am sitting there with those old ladies.

Women are strong knowledge holders passing down to the next generation. I will never stop teaching. We do not want to lose our miny’tji. We must keep going. You can see in this exhibition that there are lots of miny’tji by both men and women. Every miny’tji has dhäwu (story), djalkari (foundations), and maḏayin (sacredness) from the homeland that it belongs to. So, it is important that women keep painting, keep telling their stories. This is our ŋanapurru, our inheritance: it belongs to us.

–MARRNYULA MUNUŊGURR

Artist Interviews

Hear from artists featured in Maḏayin, in their own words. Videos produced by The Mulka Project and Aris & Grimes.