personal reflection

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John Mawurndjul: I am the old and new

At the very beginning of this subject, we were lectured on the topic of myths about

Indigenous Australian people. By attending two exhibitions: ‘I am the old and the new’ and

‘Gapu-Monuk’, I hoped to further rebut the misconception that Indigenous people today have

no culture and that Indigenous Australia in not multi-cultural.

‘I am the old and the new’ by John Mawurnjdul held at the Museum of Contemporary Arts

(MCA) exhibited the stories of the Knjnjku culture and the significant surroundings in John’s

home in western Arhem Land, Northern Territory. John Mawurnjdul, who led the exhibition,

illustrates and describes places that hold special cultural significance, also known as kunred,

as well as sacred places and spirits. These two concepts hold heavy importance to him as they

resurface time and time again in his artwork. The exhibition was very immersive as

Mawurndjhul shares personal history and anecdotes in the Kinjnjku language, accompanied

by an English translation. I thought this was significant, as it reminded me, of the scarcity of

Aboriginal languages, as many of the

languages have been lost due to

colonization. As a person born and

raised in Australia with a Vietnamese

background, I truly appreciate when I

am able to watch shows in Vietnamese

with English subtitles (and vice versa)

as it allows me to learn the language.

Therefore, by incorporating Aboriginal

language, I believe it can be incredibly

helpful in maintaining culture and

language for the youth.

The exhibition explored all aspects of the earth – land, animals and water. A series within this

exhibition, ‘Etchings’ interested me in particular. In this section of the exhibition, there are

several paper-work art that were cross-hatched. This technique was taught by non-Aboriginal

people to John. This notion of collaboration between two cultures, especially in a society

where Aboriginal people were often looked down upon, was somewhat nice to learn about, as

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John took a skill of the non-Aboriginal and turned it into his own masterpiece. It is also

important the note the impact of modern technologies in the Kuninjku community as trucks

enabled artists to participate in customary activities and thus producing more art (Altman &

Hinkson 2007). Altman and Hinkson (2007) further state that Mawurnjdul owned three trucks

with each one performing specific tasks – ‘a truck for transporting family, a tray for hunting

and a second tray for collecting bark’. This again, reflects upon his concept of ‘old and new’,

as he uses new modern technologies to achieve and produce traditional art.

In conclusion, ‘I am the old and the new’, was a stunning exhibition, that allowed me to

explore the depth of Aboriginal storytelling and how complex these stories can be. They

hold strong cultural meanings and should definitely not be lost. By having an exhibition,

Aboriginal culture is shared and passed on, not only within the community, but also to the

outer community as white Australia tried to erase this rich culture in the past. With the MCA

being located next to the docking port, there provides an opportunity for a variety of

individuals to attend the exhibition and again, enables effective and truthful exposure to the

Aboriginal culture. As stated by the MCA description, ‘Mawurndjul’s work, remains a

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timeless narrative thread that links the past to the present, and shed light on Kininjku future –

embracing the old and the new’.

Gapu-Monuk Saltwater: Journey to Sea Country

The next exhibition I attended was ‘Gapu-Monuk’. The term Gapu-Monuk derives from the

Yolŋu language and translates to ‘Water Salty’ or more correctly (in English), ‘Saltwater’.

The exhibition was curated by several Yolŋu artists who were fighting for recognition and

sea rights in the East Arnhem Land. It contains around 40 bark paintings, revealing sacred

patterns or designs known as Miny’tji (Australian National Maritime Museum 2018).

Through several forms of art (painting, photography, traditional and contemporary

Indigenous objects), the Yolŋu artists reveal their rich connection to sea country.

This exhibition described the fifteen Saltwater Estates

with different artists portraying their own perceptions

and stories of the coastal land they belonged to. Similar

to ‘I am the old and the new’, this exhibition taught me

about the rich connections to country. However, this

exhibition was the first time I had learnt about the

connections to sea and animals related. In the past, I was

mostly taught about the connection to land (bushes,

dance, animals, traditional hunting methods) and

contemporary Aboriginal Sydney. The stories shared

often spoke about family and described their connection

to the law, the language of their land and the sea. As

studied by Morphy & Morphy (2006), for the Yolŋu

community, the coastal landscape ‘provides a map of

history that marks past relationships’.

The exhibition was incredible as these artists began painting in the late 1990s to explain their

spiritual ties to the region’s coastal zone and ultimately created a map of their Saltwater

Country. The bark paintings were then doubled up as legal documents or title deeds, and were

used in their Indigenous Sea Rights claim, known as the ‘Blue Mud Bay Case’. As noted in

this week’s lecture on ‘Aboriginal Sydney through Art’, it is important to remember that art

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keeps meaning and continues to shift the world as

the environment changes around it. Through this

exhibition it was communicated that the Yolŋu

traditional owners of the land wanted to obtain

rights to the land and engage in caring for country,

as many illegal fishing camps were found with

rubbish scattered and a decapitated Baru (the

crocodile). Non-Aboriginal Australians were

aiming to strip sea rights from Aboriginals, but

through art, they successfully obtained recognition of sovereignty and land rights and after a

decade long battle. This victory marks to be the most significant ruling for Aboriginal since

the High Court’s Mabo decision. I think this is incredibly powerful as white Australia has

already taken too much away from Indigenous Aboriginal Australians. Furthermore,

personally, I believe that if this case was lost and the Northern Territory white government

had won, the coastal land would have been used as a source of money whilst simultaneously

erasing thousands of years’ worth of culture and history. As stated by Djambawa Marawili

AM in the exhibition, ‘the land and sea can’t talk, we have to talk for them’, through cross-

cultural communication, the muted Indigenous Australians, were given agency and voice to

communicate effectively across cultures (Hurn & Tomalin 2013).

In conclusion, both exhibitions have enhanced my knowledge on Aboriginal Australia’s rich

culture and history and their deeply rooted connection to the land. It taught me the

importance of showcasing their stories, as it allows for culture to be resilient and to be passed

on to current and future generations of Australia. I hope local artists are continually supported

by art exhibitions, as for me personally, visual learning is much easier to absorb than big

loads of texts. In the future, I hope to attend more exhibitions curated by Indigenous

Aboriginals, as culture is constantly evolving and I would love to see how they retain their

deep history in this ever-changing environment.

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REFERENCE

Altman, J. & Hinkson, M. 2007, ‘Mobility and Modernity in Arnhem Land The Social

Universe of Kuninjku Trucks’, Journal of Material Culture, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 181-

203.

Australian National Maritime Museum 2018, Gapu-Monuk Saltwater Journey to Sea

Country’, viewed 30 August 2018, <http://www.anmm.gov.au/Whats-

On/Exhibitions/On-Now/Saltwater >.

Hurn, B. & Tomalin, B. 2013, Cross-Cultural Communication, Palgrave Macmillian, UK.

Morphy, H. & Morphy, F. 2006, ‘Tasting the Waters Discriminating Identities in the Waters

of Blue Mud Bay’, Journal of Material Culture, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 67-85.

Museum of Contemporary Arts 2018, John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new, viewed 15

August, <https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/exhibitions/john-mawurndjul-i-am-

the-old-and-the-new/>.