Kluge-RuheAboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia is planning Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Bark Painting from Yirrkala. It will feature approximately one hundred works created over the past 80 years; 33 will be new commissions. The show is pioneering a new model of collaboration with the communities whose culture it presents; conceived by artist Djambawa Marawili during a 2015 residency in Virginia, it has been jointly organized by museum staff with Yolgnu artists and curators from the Buku-Larrngay Mulka Art Center in Yirrkala, Australia.
Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala
Marrnyula Munuŋgurr with her work Djapu Design 2019, commissioned by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia for the exhibition Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. Photo by Nat Rogers.
Manydjarri Ganambarr with his painting Mäṉa ga Dhukururru (Ancestral Shark and Sacred Rock) 2021 produced for the exhibition Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. Photo by Rosita Holmes.
Naminapu Maymuru-White working at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala. Photo by Leicholhn McKellar.
Wukuṉ Waṉambi with his painting Destiny 2019, commissioned by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia for the exhibition Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. Photo by Dave Wickens.
Curators Yinimala Gumana, Wukuṉ Waṉambi, Kade McDonald and Henry Skerritt considering works in the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia for inclusion in the exhibition Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. Photo by Dan Addison, UVA Communications.
Dr. Djambawa Marawili AM, Journey to America 2019. Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark, 106 5/16 x 39 3/8 in. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. The 2017-19 Kluge-Ruhe Maḏayin Commission. Purchased with funds provided by Geoffrey Hassall and Virginia Milson.
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Founded in 2013 and launched in 2015 Common Field is a national network of independent visual arts organizations and organizers that connects, supports, and advocates for the artist-centered field.