Word: ngalyod
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...From its beginnings on cave walls at least 20,000 years ago, Aboriginal art has continually shifted shape like the rainbow serpent Ngalyod, the culture's enduring creation figure: from the X-ray styles of ancient Arnhem Land to colonial-era paintings on bark; from Albert Namatjira's mid-century watercolors at Hermannsburg to the contemporary cultural renaissance that is the Western Desert Art Movement, and its fertile offspring. Recently described by former Aboriginal Affairs Minister Amanda Vanstone as "Australia's greatest cultural treasure," it is an industry conservatively worth $A200 million a year (see following story). But its complexity...
...career retrospective at the Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland. If Mawurndjul is considered the Michelangelo of rarrk, then the MQB is his Sistine Chapel. Across 150 sq m of ground-floor ceiling, his sacred billabong at Milmilngkan ripples and sings; the rarrk's kinetic power suggesting the presence of Ngalyod. Nearby, his painted hollow-log column appears to bear the weight of the building. Mawurndjul visited Paris last September to hand-paint his lorrkkon log and supervise the ceiling work, joining his artisans on the scaffolding. "His eye followed every single line as it was painted," recalls Lonergan...
...Nothing features larger than Ngalyod, the creator and destroyer in Kuninjku culture, and the serpent's twists and turns empower the show. Even when not shown, Ngalyod's presence can be felt in the waterlilies and water holes that are believed to be manifestations of its journey. Ngalyod's appetite is thought to have forged the local landforms, and one gets a sense of this in Marralwanga's Ngalyod and Yawkyawk, 1983, in which the two creatures consume each other. Mawurndjul's brother Jimmy Njiminjuma pushed the concept even further in his large-scale serpents from the mid '80s, which...
...buckling frames, barks are impossible to restrain, and it's to her credit that Hetti Perkins has liberated many in the show from their 20th century backing boards. It's the perfect medium for the constantly metamorphosing creatures that inhabit them, from yawkyawk mermaid spirits to the rainbow serpent, Ngalyod. Indeed, so warped is the bark of James Iyuna's 2002 serpent that it threatens to lift off the wall. But what is a nightmare for conservators is a thrill for spectators...
...clan lands, Mawurndjul's family mine a pure white clay, believed to be the essence of Ngalyod, which forms the foundation for his paintings. In recent years, Mawurndjul has allowed ever larger swathes of delek to shine through, as bright as the sun or the flick of a rainbow serpent's tail. Perhaps viewers should wear sunglasses to the show. Captured here is the white-hot flash of an art in motion; who knows where it might go next...
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