Djambawa Marawili

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Djambawa Marawili

AM
Born1953
Spouse(s)Liawaday Wirrpanda
Parent(s)Wakuthi Marawili (father), Mulkun Wirrpanda (mother)

Djambawa Marawili AM (born 1953) is an Aboriginal Australian artist known for bark painting, wood sculpture, and printmaking.

Biography[]

Marawili was born in 1953 in Baniyala in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.[1] He is the son of Wakuthi Marawili and Mulkun Wirrpanda. Marawili's mother, Mulkun Wirrpanda, is one of the few women in the Yolngu community who is acknowledged as a leader due to her great knowledge of the Dhuji-Djapu clan, and her father is Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda who was a Yolngu leader. She is also an artist, painting on bark, memorial poles, and didgeridoos, and she also has skills in carving, weaving, and printmaking, which have been shown in exhibitions in Australia and Asia.[2] Marawili is the husband of Liawaday Wirrpanda, who is also an artist herself, exhibiting with her mother, Galuma Maymuru.[3][4] In the Madarrpa clan of the Yolngu, Marawili is a senior leader, facilitating and leading ceremonies.[5]

In addition to leading ceremonies, he ensures the spiritual well-being of his own people as well as the people in other clans. Acting as an activist and administrator, Marawili serves to connect the Yolngu people and non-Aboriginal people, bringing more awareness to the Aboriginal people and serving as a bridge between the two groups.[6]

Career[]

In the early 1980s, Marawili began painting, incorporating the idea of buwuyak (invisibility) in his works, which was an innovative change in the Yolngu art tradition. His paintings often show the Yathikpa ancestral story of the bay where Bäru turned into a crocodile from a human figure. With works that capture both innovation and tradition, Marawili has become one of the most significant artists from the Yolngu community.[7] Because his works capture tradition and historical meanings, the paintings of Marawili are also used as a source of history and records, especially in the legal battle to protect the right of the Yolngu land.[6]

His paintings that portray sacred traditional designs demonstrates the right and purpose to speak for and protect their sea and land. Because of this reason, this portrayal shown in the Saltwater: Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sea Country exhibition played a significant role in the Blue Mud Bay sea rights case where Marawili arranged for the Sea Right claim to the Federal Court in 2004. Eventually, the case went up to the High Court, and they gave Yolngu the ownership of the intertidal zone, between high and low tide marks.[1]

Other roles[]

Outside of his life as an artist, Marawili has served in many leadership roles to support and bring an awareness to the Indigenous community. Roles have included:[1]

  • (ANKA) Chairperson (1998– )
  • Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Chairperson at Yirrkala (1994-2000, 2016-2018), board member (2001-2016)
  • Laynhupuy Homelands Committee Chairperson (1995-1997, 2018)
  • Northern Land Council Councillor (1995-1997)
  • Nambara Homelands School Board Member
  • Australia Council Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board (2008-2009)
  • YBE Enterprises Board Member
  • Yipara-Laynhupuy Homelands CDEP supervisor
  • Appointed member of the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council, in both its first (2013–2017)[8] and second (2017– ) terms.[9][10]

Recognition[]

Marawili has won numerous awards with his significant paintings. These include the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) first in 1996, and then again in 2019 with Journey to America, a stringybark piece.[11] Other roles and recognition of his work as an artist and a community leader include:[1]

  • Australia Council, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Fellowship (2003)
  • General Division of the Order of Australia (2010)
  • Opened the Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide (2019)
  • Lead curator for Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Bark Painting from Yirrkala, Australia, scheduled to tour North America from 2021, the first significant collection of bark painting to tour outside Australia

Collections[]

Marawili's work is represented in the following galleries and other institutions:[1]

Significant exhibitions[]

  • Saltwater: Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sear Country (1999-2001)[1]
  • Buwayak-Invisibility in Annandale Galleries(2003)
  • Source of Fire in Annandale Galleries (2005)[7]
  • Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Queensland Art Gallery (2006-2007)
  • One sun, one moon in Art Gallery of New South Wales (2007)[12]
  • Larrakitj in Art Gallery of Western Australia (2009)[7]
  • Australia in Royal Academy of Arts (2013)[12]
  • Our Land in Art Gallery of New South Wales (2017)[13]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Biography: Djambawa Marawili AM" (PDF).
  2. ^ "Mulkun Wirrapanda".
  3. ^ Warin, Jenness (May 2004). "Life and death in Baniyala" (PDF). Policy. Centre for Independent Studies. 20 (4): 42–46. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Galuma Maymuru".
  5. ^ "Djambawa Marawili AM: CHANGE AGENT" (PDF).
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Djambawa Marawili".
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Djambawa Marawili".
  8. ^ "First Meeting of the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Tony Abbott [Media release]. Australian Government. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  9. ^ "National Congress wants to work with PM's new advisory council..." (Includes audio interview with Jackie Huggins.). CAAMA Radio. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  10. ^ Karvelas, Patricia (8 February 2017). "Indigenous Advisory Council 'refreshed' with new membership". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Djambawa Marawili Wins Prestigious Telstra Art Award".
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "Source of fire".
  13. ^ "Mundukul".

Further reading[]

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