“Our art comes from our Dreaming”
Exploring the Becoming of Ngan’gi Art from Nauiyu, Australia
Maria Øien
Dissertation submitted for partial fulfilment of the Philosophiae Doctor degree, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo,
July 2014
Plate 0.1 “Red Lotus Lilies” painted by Gracie Kumbi in November 2003
This bush tucker design is painted by an established Merrepen Arts artist and introduces the figurative, decorative, and colourful style that Ngan’gi art from Nauiyu and Fitzmaurice region has become recognisable for in the Australian art market. In this thesis I will illustrate how Ngan’gi art is this and much more, embracing a multitude of pioneering styles, in designs that are always founded on stories, such as the one presented below, because of the artists’
intention of sharing their cultural knowledge.
Red lotus lilies called miwulngini in my language have big pink flowers, large leaves, and green pods that ripen at the beginning of the dry season producing a seed, midamuy. They are found in all the billabongs around the Daly. There is a big billabong just the other side of the community. The seed can be eaten raw or roasted on hot coals. These seeds are a rich and abundant food source for the Aboriginal people of the Daly River. The root minginiginy is eaten after roasting; it is also used medicinally to treat constipation. The new shoot
minytyangari is eaten raw like celery sticks. The leaf is called midetyeri. The large concave leaves can be used to carry water and as a cup to drink from.
TABLE OF CONTENT
TABLE OF CONTENT ... V
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ...IX LIST OF FIGURES ... XIV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... XV
INTRODUCTION ... 1
“We paint the stories of our culture!” ...1
Ngan’gi Art: Beyond Sacred … ...4
What Is Art? ...8
Steps Towards an Anthropological Analysis of Aboriginal Art ... 13
The Creation of Merrepen Arts ... 22
Summary... 29
The Chapters ... 30
PART I ... 34
1 METHODS IN ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK: STEPS TO EMPIRICAL RESEARCH .. 35
Outline of Fieldwork in Time and Space ... 36
Research Methods and Ethical Considerations When Doing Ethnography ... 41
Participant Observation in Nauiyu ... 42
Going “Out Bush” ... 44
“Employee” at Merrepen Arts ... 45
Community Life ... 48
Language ... 52
Climate and Seasons... 54
Collecting Semi-Structured In-Depth Interviews and Life Histories ... 55
Archive and Library Research ... 57
Methodological Implications of the Visual in Anthropological Research ... 58
Summary... 59
2 ART PORTRAYS LIFE: NAUIYU NAMBIYU – THE PLACE AND ITS PEOPLE ... 60
The People ... 62
The Historical Origin of the People of Nauiyu: The Past Into the Present ... 62
Kinship: Models for Ways of Being in Nauiyu Social Space ... 70
Early Settlement History in Daly River: White Fella Goods and Government ... 74
Settling in Daly River: From Hunters to Farm Hands ... 76
The Jesuit and Catholic Mission Stations; New Organisation of Space and Life... 77
The Establishment of a Community Association... 81
Living in Nauiyu ... 84
Living Kinship: The Family in Nauiyu ... 85
Ancestral Connections Acted Out: Child Spirits ... 94
Summary... 96
3 MERREPEN ARTS: A LOCALLY-MANAGED ABORIGINAL ART ORGANISATION ... 97
The Governance of Merrepen Arts ... 99
Merrepen Arts – An Aboriginal Organisation ... 100
The Official Role of Former and Present Managers at Merrepen Arts ... 101
Aboriginal Leaders: Ngan’gi Notions of Authority ... 104
Developing Employment Structures in Merrepen Arts Management...115
Merrepen Arts – A Governmental Employment Project ... 115
The Social and Practical Implications of Employment and Kinship ... 117
Changes in Federal Policies and the Employment Structures of Merrepen Arts... 120
Summary... 127
PART II ... 130
4 NGAN’GI ART PRODUCTION PRACTICES AND MEDIA: EXTERNAL TECHNIQUES AND INTERNAL CONTENT ... 131
“Traditional” Art Produced with “Contemporary” Media ...135
Copyright: Contradicting Art Concepts ...141
Acrylic Canvas Paintings ...147
Printing on Paper and Fabric ...150
Intaglio Printing; Etching, Sugar Lift, and Dry Point on Paper ... 151
Serigraphy: Screen Printing on Fabric and Paper ... 154
Silk Painting ...159
Batik ...160
Papier Mâché ...163
Fibre Works...164
Fibre Works: Transformed From Craft to Fine Art ... 168
Summary... 171
5 NGAN’GI ART: MANIFESTING NGAN’GI LIFE-WORLD TRANSFORMING STYLES AND SUBJECT-MATTER ... 173
Ngan’gi Art’s Transforming Styles ...179
The Historicity of Ngan’gi Styles ... 183
Ngan’gi Artistic Stylistic Interpretations ... 191
Regional, Local, and Individual Stylistic Idiosyncrasies ... 195
Ngan’gi Art Designs: Analysing “Inside” Subject-Matter ...206
“We paint the stories from our Dreamings” ... 207
Dreamtime Stories: Change and Continuity ... 216
Bush Tucker Designs ... 221
Custom Designs ... 227
Catholic Christian Designs ... 230
Decorative Designs ... 237
Summary... 238
6 NGAN’GI ARTIST PROFILES: INDIVIDUALISED ART ... 239
Marita Ann Sambono Diyini ...241
“I hope that I keep on doing that painting until I get really famous …” ... 241
Philip Joseph Merrdi Wilson ...253
“I paint cause it’s a stress free thing, it’s like my medicine ...” ... 254
Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart ...259
“We are living in two worlds today, but we can live both ways, and keep our knowledge by painting and writing it down ...” ... 261
Gracie Bernadette Kumbi ...273
“When I do my Barra painting people recognise my work, they come into the art centre to see my art, and they know which paintings are mine ...”... 273
Christina Rebecca Yambeing ...279
“I just paint whatever I feel like, and when I make that gecko look like em’ moving, it makes me happy and proud ...”... 280
Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Bauman ...286
“Aboriginal people are very spiritual. I do Christian spiritual paintings in an Aboriginal sense, and that’s a special thing for me …” ... 287
Summary... 294
PART III ... 297
7 THE “SEEING” AND “SHOWING” OF NGAN’GI ART: INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF ART WORLDS ... 298
Defining Art World Practices: The Seeing and Showing of Art ...303
Aesthetic Judgments of Ngan’gi Art: “I want your traditional paintings!” ...309
“Black” Art on “White” Walls? ...319
Ngan’gi Art Characterised by Stratified Art Worlds ...326
“My art is really fine, high art now, and people are seeing me!” ... 333
“I Paint my Stories!” Representing Aboriginal Art with Story or Not? ...339
Summary... 347
8 FINE ART GALLERIES, MUSEUMS AND A FESTIVAL: THE SOCIAL PRACTICE OF SHOWING ABORIGINAL ART ... 350
Commercial Art Galleries Showing Aboriginal Art: Exhibitions for Sale ...352
“Aboriginal Fine Art Gallery” ... 353
“Papunya Tula Artists” ... 356
A National Art Gallery Showing Aboriginal Art: Exhibitions for Viewing ...360
“Culture Warriors” ... 361
Museums Showing Aboriginal Art: Exhibitions with Contextualisation ...365
“Papunya Paintings out of the Desert” ... 367
Art Centres Showing Aboriginal Art: Exhibitions of Local Art Production ...371
“Endirrlup” Merrepen Arts Etching and Mini-Painting Exhibition ... 374
The 21st Merrepen Arts Festival ... 381
Summary... 391
EPILOGUE ... 393
APPENDIX ... 405
Artist Biographies ...405
A Kinship-Related Occurrence at a Public Meeting in 2003 ... 409
An Example of Avoidance Relation at Voting in 2007 ... 410
Child Spirit Stories ... 410
Changes in Nauiyu Community Caused by the Governmental Emergency Response... 411
Figure 3.1 Merrepen Arts Organisational Structure (2008)... 413
Dreamtime Designs ... 418
Bush Tucker Hunting and Gathering Activities Conducted in Nauiyu ... 421
Ngan’gi Seasonal Names ... 425
Bush Tucker Designs ... 427
Christian Designs and Stories ... 429
Decorative Designs ... 434
Paintings by Marita Ann Sambono Diyini ...436
Paintings by Philip Joseph Merrdi Wilson ...441
Paintings by Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart ...444
Paintings by Gracie Kumbi ...452
Paintings by Christina Rebecca Yambeing ...456
Paintings by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Bauman ...460
Aboriginal Art Producing Regions ... 463
Description of Selected Works from the National Gallery Exhibition “Cultural Warriors” ... 466
A Collection of Individual and/or Group Exhibitions of Merrepen Arts ... 467
Parts of Endirrlup Exhibition Opening Speech Made by Sylvia Klienert ... 468
REFERENCES ... 470
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
0.1 “Red Lotus Lilies” painted by Gracie Kumbi in November 2003 III 0.2 Philip Merrdi Wilson painting “Yerrwirimbi” in January 2008 12 0.3 Customers “seeing” the “showing” of Ngan’gi art at Merrepen Arts in 2007 19
1.1 Molly Yawalminy, Mercia Wawul, and I am looping a sand palm fibre dilly bag 49 1.2 The Green Daly River photographed by Maria Øien during the dry season 55
2.1 “Traditional Marriage Ngaga” painted by Christine Yambeing in 2004 91
3.1 Kenneth and Elaine painting together at Merrepen Arts in 2008 125 3.2 Kenneth, Karen, Bianca, and Yambeing painting together at Merrepen Arts in
2003 125
4.1 “Dreamings of Malfiyin” painted by Gracie Kumbi in 2000. 144 4.2 “Frilled Neck Lizard” painted by Marita Sambono in November 2003 148 4.3 Gracie Kumbi is preparing an etching plate in November 2003 151
4.4 “Stingray” etching made by Gracie Kumbi in 2007 152
4.5 “Crocodile Skin” etching made by Aaron McTaggart in 2007 153 4.6 “Red Lotus lilies Miwulngini” dry point made by Aaron McTaggart in 2003 153 4.7 Øien and Wilson screen printing Sambono’s “Pelican” design on material 155 4.8 Øien and Wilson screen printing Sambono’s “Pelican” design on material 155 4.9 “Crocodile Eye” screen print made by Patricia Marrfurra in 2003 158 4.10 “Red Lotus lilies Miwulngini” silk painting made by Marita Sambono in 2008 160 4.11 “Snake Skin” silk painting made by Aaron McTaggart in 2008 160 4.12 Painted and waxed batik t-shirts made in 2008 photographed by Maria Øien 162 4.13 Painted papier mâché bowl made by Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart in 2008 164 4.14 Molly Yawalminy looping a sand palm fibre fishing net in 2003 166 4.15 Molly Yawalminy looping a sand palm fibre fishing net in 2003 166 4.16 A sand palm fibre dilly bag made by Molly Yawalminy in 2008 166 4.17 Pandanus basket made by Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart in 2008 167 4.18 The base of a pandanus basket made by Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart in 2008 167 4.19 Mercia Wawul and Maureen Warrumburr interacting with Fi-tour participants 171
5.1 “The Spirit People Warrakuntha at Ferriderr” painted by Dorothy Sambono in
1987 177
5.2 “Travelling Woman” painted by Marita Sambono in August 2004. 181 5.3 “How the Moon Came” painted by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr in 1977 187
5.4 “Kapok Tree” painted by Marita Sambono in 2002 187
5.5 “Loolo the Blue Fish and Nullandi the Moon” painted by Ungunmerr in 1987 188 5.6 “Barramundi” painted by Gracie Kumbi in February 2008 188 5.7 “The Rainbow and the Bread-Fruit Flower” painted by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr
Bauman in 1987 189
5.8 “The Three Hunters” painted by Gracie Kumbi in December 1999 189
5.9 “A Child is Born” painted by Gracie Kumbi in 1989 414
5.10 “Why Tribes Speak Different Languages” painted by Ungunmerr in 1987 190 5.11 “The Brolga and the Storm Wind” painted by Gracie Kumbi in 2004 190 5.12 “The Brolga and the Storm Wind” painted by Benigna Ngulfundi in 1996 414 5.13 “The Brolga and the Storm Wind” painted by Philip Wilson in 2008 415 5.14 “Dreamings of Rak-Merrepen” painted by Philomena Mulvien in 1999 192 5.15 “Dreamings of Rak-Merrepen” painted by Ann Carmel Mulvien in 1997 192 5.16 “Poor Porcupine and Her Friend Turtle” painted by Marita Sambono in May 1999 416 5.17 “Poor Porcupine and Her Friend Turtle” painted by Marita Sambono in 2002 416 5.18 “Poor Porcupine and Her Friend Turtle” painted by Marita Sambono in 2003 417 5.19 “Poor Porcupine and Her Friend Turtle” painted by Marita Sambono in 2005 417 5.20 “Poor Porcupine and Her Friend Turtle” painted by Miller painted in 2007 196 5.21 “Poor Porcupine and Her Friend Turtle” painted by Marita Sambono in 1995 196
5.22 “The Falling Star” painted by Mercia Wawul in 1988 197
5.23 “The Falling Star” painted by Marita Sambono in 2004 197 5.24 “The Falling Star” painted by Christina Yambeing in 2005 198 5.25 “Barramundi” painted by Marita Sambono in August 2007 200
5.26 “Barramundi” painted by Gracie Kumbi in 2006 200
5.27 “Dragonflies” painted by Christina Yambeing in December 2002 202 5.28 “Dragonflies” painted by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr in 2003 202 5.29 “Dragonflies” in post card size painted by Marita Sambono in August 2003 203 5.30 “Dragonflies” etching on paper by Aaron Kingangu McTaggart printed in 2007 203
5.31 “Dragonflies” painted by Gracie Kumbi in 2008 204
5.32 “Dragonflies” painted by Melissa Wungung in May 2008 204 5.33 “How the Mermaid got Her Tail” painted by Bernadette Tyilngilin in 1994 209 5.34 “The Little Bat and the Mermaids” painted by Benigna Ngulfundi in 2000 210 5.35 “A Mermaid is Born” painted by Maureen Warrumburr in 1988 418 5.36 Pelican site in the Homeland Malfiyin located in Daly River region 211 5.37 “Pelican Dreaming” painted by Gracie Kumbi in August 2003 213 5.38 “Pelican Dreaming” at Malfiyin painted by Gracie Kumbi in August 2003 419 5.39 “Pelican Dreaming” at Malfiyin painted by Gracie Kumbi in September 2004 419 5.40 “Pelican Dreaming” at Malfiyin painted by Gracie Kumbi June 2007. 420 5.41 “Sore Eye Dreaming” painted by Philippine Parling in 2001 214 5.42 “Sore Eye Dreaming” painted by Philippine Parling in December 2004 215
5.43 “Sore Eye Dreaming” painted by Philippine Parling in December 2007 215 5.44 “The Mic Mic and the Bottle Tree” painted by Benigna Ngulfundi in 2003 219 5.45 “The Mic Mic and the Bottle Tree” painted by Benigna Ngulfundi in 1999 420 5.46 “The Thirsty Sand Frog” painted by Marita Sambono in November 1998 220
5.47 “Bush Tucker” painted by Molly Yawalminy in 2008 223
5.48 “Miwelffirrmuy” painted by Mary Kanngi in May 1999 427
5.49 “Kapok Tree” painted by Geraldine Ungunmerr in December 2004 224 5.50 “Every Storm” painted by Philippine Parling in November 2007 428 5.51 “Underground Oven” painted by Kenneth Minggun in April 2008 226 5.52 “Apilirr” red and black ants painted by Christina Yambeing and Gracie Kumbi in
October 2004 228
5.53 “Welcome to Country Ceremony” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in 1991 234 5.54 “Welcome to Country Ceremony” silk painting made by Philip Wilson June 2008 429 5.55 “The Miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes” painted by Marita Sambono in 1992 430 5.56 “The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary” painted by Marita Sambono in 1997 431 5.57 “The Sacred Heart of Jesus” painted by Susan Nurra in August 2004 432 5.58 “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart” painted by Susan Nurra in August 2004 432 5.59 “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart” silk painting made by Benigna Ngulfundi in May
2008 433
5.60 Ceramics statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the St. Frances Xavier
Catholic Church in Nauiyu 434
5.61 A decorative silk scarf painted by Aaron McTaggart in May 2008 237 5.62 Part of a decorative silk painting made by Philip Wilson in May 2008 434 5.63 Parts of a decorative silk painting produced in May 2008, artist unknown 435 5.64 Parts of a decorative silk painting produced in May 2008, artist unknown 435 5.65 Parts of a decorative silk painting produced in May 2008, artist unknown 435
6.1 “A Girl Must be Humble” painted by Marita Sambono year unknown 243 6.2 “A Girl Must be Humble” painted by Marita Sambono in 1998 244 6.3 “A Girl Must be Humble” painted by Marita Sambono in 1998 436 6.4 “A Girl Must be Humble” painted by Marita Sambono in 2000 436 6.5 “A Girl Must be Humble” painted by Marita Sambono in 2003 245
6.6 “Fog Dreaming” painted by Marita Sambono 2004 246
6.7 “Fog Dreaming” painted by Marita Sambono in October 2004 437 6.8 “Fog Dreaming” painted by Marita Sambono in January 2005 437 6.9 “Fog Dreaming” painted by Marita Sambono in March 2005 438 6.10 “Fog Dreaming” painted by Marita Sambono in early 2006 438 6.11 “Fog Dreaming” painted by Marita Sambono in late 2006 249 6.12 “Fog Dreaming” painted by Marita Sambono in March 2008 250 6.13 “Smoking Ceremony for a Dead Person” painted by Sambono in August 2004 439 6.14 “Willy-Willy” painted by Marita Sambono in September 2004 439 6.15 “Long Neck Turtles Malarrgu and Short Neck Turtles Atyindirrity” painted by
Marita Sambono in 1999 252
6.16 “Pig Nose Turtle Yirrng” painted by Marita Sambono in 2001 252 6.17 “Dragonflies” in black and white painted by Christine Yambeing in 2003 440 6.18 “The Old Man and the Mermaids” painted by Gracie Kumbi in June 2001 441 6.19 “Red Lotus lilies Miwulngini” painted by Philip Wilson in June 2008 441 6.20 “Red Lotus lilies Miwulngini” painted by Philip Wilson in August 2008 442 6.21 “The Old Man and the Mermaid Fallami Kurri” painted by Philip Wilson in
October 2007 256
6.22 “Mermaid Dreaming” painted by Gracie Kumbi in 2003 257
6.23 “Mermaids” painted by Marita Sambono in 2001 442
6.24 “Yerrwirimbi” painted by Philip Wilson in January 2008 258 6.25 “Yerrwirimbi” painted by Philip Wilson in February 2007 258 6.26 “Yerrwirimbi” painted by Philip Wilson in March 2008 443 6.27 “Footprints in the Sand of Time” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in 1998 263 6.28 “Mother Earth is Crying” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in 1998 264 6.29 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in February 2004 266 6.30 “Crocodile” painted by Marita Sambono in November 1998 443 6.31 “Crocodile” painted by Marita Sambono in August 2007 444 6.32 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in March 2004 444 6.33 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in September 2004 445 6.34 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in August 2004 445 6.35 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in August 2004 446 6.36 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in September 2004 446 6.37 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in February 2005 446 6.38 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in April 2008 447 6.39 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in May 2008 447 6.40 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in May 2008 267 6.41 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty in July 2004 448 6.42 “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” painted by Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty in 2004 448 6.43 “Coolamon” painted by Kieren Karritypul McTaggart in November 2007 449 6.44 “Coolamon” silk painting produced by Kieren McTaggart in 2008 450 6.45 “Paper bark” painted by Kieren Karritypul McTaggart in March 2008 450 6.46 Papier mâché bowl made and decorated with “Crocodile Skin Agarrfiri” by
Patricia Marrfurra in May 2008 268
6.47 “Crocodile Eye” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in September 2006 269 6.48 “Crocodile Eye” etching on paper made by Patricia Marrfurra in 2007 451 6.49 “Crocodile Eye” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in 2006 270
6.50 “Mermaids” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in 1989 271
6.51 “Mermaids” painted by Patricia Marrfurra in March 2004 272
6.52 “Barramundi” drawn by Gracie Kumbi in 1987 274
6.53 “Barramundi” drawn by Gracie Kumbi in 2008 275
6.54 “Barramundi” painted by Gracie Kumbi in October 2001 452
6.55 “Barramundi” painted by Gracie Kumbi in June 2003 452
6.56 “Barramundi” painted by Gracie Kumbi in November 2004 453 6.57 “Barramundi” painted by Gracie Kumbi in February 2008 453
6.58 “Barramundi” painted by Gracie Kumbi in May 2008 454 6.59 “Barramundi” painted by Philip Wilson in January 2008 454 6.60 “Barramundi” painted by Christina Yambeing in March 2008 455 6.61 “The Bat and the Rainbow Serpent” painted by Kumbi in 2003 277 6.62 “The Bat and the Rainbow Serpent” painted by Kumbi in 2008 277 6.63 “The Rainbow Serpent, Eagle and Fire Stick” painted by Kumbi in 1994 278 6.64 “The Rainbow Serpent, Eagle and Fire Stick” painted by Kumbi in 2007 278
6.65 “Geckos” painted by Christina Yambeing in 2003 280
6.66 “Gecko” painted on marbling by Christina Yambeing in June 2004 280 6.67 “Bushfire” painted by Christina Yambeing in March 2002 282 6.68 “Bushfire” painted by Christina Yambeing in May 1999 456 6.69 “Bushfire” painted by Christina Yambeing in June 2003 456 6.70 A bushfire photographed by Stian Thoresen at night in October 2007 457 6.71 “The Children and the Rocks that fell from the Sky” painted by Yambeing in 1994 283 6.72 “The Children and the Rocks that fell from the Sky” painted by Yambeing in 2003 284 6.73 “Traditional Birth” painted by Christina Yambeing in 2002 285 6.74 Banyan trees photographed by Maria Øien outside of Nauiyu in 2003 457 6.75 “Traditional Birth” painted by Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart in 1998 458 6.76 “Traditional Birth” painted by Catherine Ariuu in October 2002 459 6.77 “The Light of the World” drawn by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr in 1987 460 6.78 Molly Yawalminy demonstrating the traditional way of carrying a Dilly bag 461 6.79 “Faith Healer” painted by Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart in May 1993 462 6.80 “Both Ways to Heal the Spirit” painted by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr in 1987 288 6.81 “The Tree of Life” painted by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr in 1988 290 6.82 “Male Life Cycles” painted by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr in 1987 293 6.83 “Male Life Cycles” painted by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr in 2000 293 6.84 Inscribed mother of pearl shell from the Daly River region 463
7.1 “Barramundi” painted in “Arnhem land style” by Philip Wilson in October 2007 336 7.2 Exhibition PAINT at Raft Art Space in Darwin in 2008 343
7.3 “Mic Mic” etching made by Benigna Ngulfundi in 2007 346
8.1 Molly Yawalminy signing her “Bush Tucker” etching 375
8.2 The Endirrlup Exhibition invitation 468
8.3 Catherine Ariuu posing with customer at Endirrlup Exhibition 380 8.4 Marita Sambono posing with customer at Endirrlup Exhibition 380 8.5 Maria Øien hanging paintings by Gracie Kumbi in the Merrepen Arts display 383
8.6 Customers at Merrepen Art Festival in 2008 387
8.7 Art auction Merrepen Art Festival in 2008 388
9.1 “Shattered Man” painted by Marrfurra in 1991 403
LIST OF FIGURES
2.1 Kinship Diagram 408
2.2 Kinship Diagram including the fourth generation change in kin terminology 409
3.1 Merrepen Arts Organisational Structure 2008 413
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to many individuals and institutions whose invaluable encouragement and support has contributed to making this thesis, and here I would like to acknowledge their contributions and express my gratitude. First and foremost, I am especially thankful to my friends and my “black one family” in Nauiyu, who welcomed me into their community, cared for me, took me out bush, and generously shared their lives with me. The knowledge and empirical data upon which this thesis is founded I have learned from them while sharing many meals, bush trips, and working together at Merrepen Arts. In particular, I thank my brother aba and friend Aaron Kingangu McTaggart, and my mother kala Patricia Marrfurra who, since my first fieldwork has been my key informant, friend, and mentor. My deepest gratitude goes to all of the Ngan’gi artists about whom I write, for trusting me by sharing their art and stories with me. They are all presented with short biographies in chapter 6 or in the Appendix.
The manager of Merrepen Arts and their Arts board members were all very generous when inviting me to act as an unpaid employee at their art centre, which enabled me to observe and participate with them in production activities, create displays, plan exhibition events, and interact with customers. They also allowed me to participate in meetings, both within the community and outside the community, with governmental funding bodies.
During my fieldwork, I visited art centres in other Aboriginal communities. I thank Apolline Kohen for allowing me to visit the Maningrida Art and Culture Centre in north central Arnhem Land for two weeks. A warm thanks goes to Christine Margaret Miezis for welcoming me into her home and to Munupi Arts, and for facilitating my two weeks in Pularumpi, Melville Island. Lastly, I thank Cecilia Alfonso for her enthusiastic hospitality when I stayed with her for a day at Warlukurlangu Arts in Yuendumu.
My Ph.D. fellowship was granted by the Department of Ethnography, Museums of Cultural History, University of Oslo. During my fellowship, I have been privileged to benefit from the resources of this institution. Professor Kjersti Larsen has been my main supervisor, and I am very grateful to her for all of her guidance and generous support throughout the process. I have greatly appreciated her strong encouragement, analytical insight, and inspiring comments. I would also like to thank Professor Øivind Fuglerud and Associate Professor Arne Perminow for our many conversations; your friendly advice and support throughout are much appreciated. I am also grateful for the support, friendship and many conversations I have had with fellow doctoral students in the Department, first and foremost Christian Sørhaug, and also Tereza Kuldova, Inger K. Vasstveit, and research assistant Stine Bruland Sørensen. I thank Marieanne Davy Ball for her thorough and skilful language check, flexible availability and our friendly conversations. I thank the librarians at the Ethnographic Library Frøydis Haugane and Berit Sonja Hougaard for their resilient and forthcoming assistance with all of my requests in locating both referenced and unreferenced literature. Professor Arnd Schneider from the department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, was my second supervisor for the first part of my fellowship, and I greatly appreciated his always enthusiastic and supportive guidance, as well as creative suggestions. Associate Professor Gro Ween, from the Department of Ethnography, stepped in at a pivotal moment as my second supervisor for the latter half of my fellowship, and I am sincerely grateful for her valuable and inspirational contributions in structuring and finalising my thesis.
While participating in the educational Ph.D. program at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, several individuals have provided valuable assistance over the years. I am thankful for friendship and many inspiring discussions with fellow doctoral students, especially Stine Rybråten, Cecilie Nordfeld, Cecilie Fagerlid, Bengt Andersen, Astrid Stensrud Bredholt, Nerina Weiss, David Ramslien, and Jon Henrik Ziegler Remme. I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Social Anthropology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, and I have benefited from conversations with my former tutor, Associate Professor Jan Ketil Simonsen, during my work with this thesis.
During my fieldwork, I met with certain key individuals who all contributed to this thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Barry Morris and Dr. Andrew Lattas from the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle; their extensive knowledge as anthropologists in Australia provided me with valuable advice when preparing for my
fieldwork. I thank Tess Lea, Associate Professor at the School for Social and Policy Research, Charles Darwin University. She provided me with valuable methodological advice concerning strategies to address my close participation in Merrepen Arts management. I thank Margie West, an Emeritus Curator at the MAGNT (The Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory). West, incidentally, was the curator for the first Merrepen Arts exhibition in 1986.
As such, she provided me with a historical perspective on the beginning of the art movement;
and her valuable viewpoint concerning the developing Ngan’gi styles, as well as her views on how Ngan’gi art is appreciated in many art world contexts. I thank Dr. Sylvia Klienert, a Post- Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the National Australian
University in Canberra, both for her contribution in opening a Merrepen Arts etching exhibition and for the valuable and interesting information she provided me, concerning the history of the Australian Aboriginal art movement. I thank also Dr. Ute Eickelkamp, an ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School for Social and Policy Research at Charles Darwin University, and Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Linguistics at the
University of Sydney. We discussed our perspectives concerning anthropological research on art, a conversation that proved vital to my research. I would also like to acknowledge the Aboriginal art consultants, Christine Hosking and Garry Darby, and the many unnamed individuals with whom I spoke in numerous art galleries, for sharing their interesting views concerning the art market’s appreciation for Aboriginal art.
In Nauiyu, I was privileged to meet several individuals that have, in various ways over the years, been involved with the management of Merrepen Arts. First and foremost I am deeply indebted to Eileen Farrelly, for sharing generously with me all of her knowledge of the historical Merrepen Art movement. I also thank Pat Hollowood, Fiona Syvier, Susan Daily, and Angus Cameron. I show my appreciation, as well to, Nicolas Reid for writing a fantastic dictionary on Ngan’gi languages in cooperation with Patricia Marrfurra, and providing me with a complimentary copy that I have relied on repeatedly throughout my work.
My warmest appreciation and most heartfelt thanks go to my love Stian Thoresen for his perseverance throughout my years of work for this thesis. I am endlessly grateful for his patience, strength, immeasurable support and positive presence, especially during our yearlong fieldwork experience that we shared in Nauiyu. My deepest gratitude also goes to my family! A big thanks to my brother Jakob for being a wizard in computer editing on his trusted Mac. Thanks my sisters Lisa and Jarbjørg, and my twin sister Ivanna, my mother Elisabeth and father Snorre, for their unconditional support and always being there for me, believing in me and encouraging my project. Last, but not least, thanks to Nikolai and Othelie, my precious twins, for reminding me about the most important things in life.
INTRODUCTION
“We paint the stories of our culture!”
On a scorching hot morning I sat at the back corner of the Merrepen Arts gallery with Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Bauman, an artist and one of the founders of this art centre. Inside the gallery, the air was comfortably cooled, and an elderly couple walked slowly around gazing at the exhibited artworks, while the manager received some newly-painted canvases proudly contributed by two local artists. Answering my questions about her art, Ungunmerr said sincerely, “Look, we have been listening to the white fellas talking of their ways for a long time. Now it is time for them to listen to our stories. We paint the stories of our culture!”
This thesis examines the art of a group of Aboriginal artists living in Nauiyu Nambiyu, a community also called Daly River, with approximately 510 inhabitants, located in Northern Australia.1 A majority of the community inhabitants are speakers of the Ngan’gi kurunggurr and Ngen’giwumirri languages. The abbreviation Ngan’gi will be applied in the text when describing both of these languages, the people of Nauiyu specifically, and their art; this term distinguishes this group’s works from the art of other Aboriginal artists.2 Ngan’gi works of art are produced and distributed for sale to largely non-Aboriginal tourists and collectors at Merrepen Arts. This gallery was established as a non-profit, Aboriginal corporation in Nauiyu in 1987. In the numerous conversations I have had with Ngan’gi artists, attempting to grasp why they chose this particular creative extension of their artistic practice, many insisted, as
1 The term Aboriginal is not a neutral term as it is a constructed, collective, and originally foreign term assigned to the Australian indigenous population by the European colonisers. The term further creates an illusion of homogeneity, while in reality the Australian indigenous population is descended from several hundred separate and distinct language groups (Attwood 1989; Broun 1995). However, the body of literature on Aboriginal and the Australian indigenous people themselves applies the term Aboriginal to distinguish Australian indigenous people from other indigenous people in the world and non-indigenous Australians. Therefore, the term Aboriginal will be applied when speaking in general terms about indigenous Australians.
2 In this text, I apply art as a collective term when describing the general characteristics of Ngan’gi art, including all of the art media incorporate in the works of this group. The term design is applied when describing imagery illustrating a specific story by using particular visual styles, patterns and compositions.
did Ungunmerr, that their main motivation for painting comes from a fundamental wish to share their stories. Art exchanges can facilitate cross-cultural discourse. Art has provided those Aborigines who choose to paint with public visibility within the Australian society and with a means to communicate and assert the value of their cultural production to the world, through international art galleries, as well as local art centres (Morphy 2008).
The art production in Nauiyu is part of what began as a grassroots art movement in Aboriginal communities; it gained a national scope by gradually including many diverse art world arenas all over Australia. The first major and public Aboriginal acrylic art movement began in Papunya Tula, a community in the Western Desert, in the early 1970s. A young, white art teacher, Geoffrey Bardon, encouraged senior, mainly Pintupi men, to paint a mural at the local school that depicted country, ceremonial life, and Dreamtime stories. These murals were followed by the painting of similar designs on canvas and board. Pintupi men innovatively transformed ephemeral symbols, referring to sacred designs, formerly painted on rocks, cave walls, in the sand, on bodies or on ceremonial paraphernalia, by converting them into to acrylic art (Anderson 1990; Bardon 1991; Bardon et al. 2006).
Similarly to other Aboriginal artists, Ngan’gi artists insist that the narrative subject-matter3 in their art designs originates from, and refers to, the Dreaming. The Ancestral Law is popularly known as “the Dreaming” or “Dreamtime” in English4 and refers to regionally-specific narratives describing how the Aboriginal Ancestor created the world (Munn 1973; Myers 1986; Sutton 1988; Morphy 1991; Taylor 2007). When the Ngan’gi initiated the social practices of producing commercial paintings and prints, this involved a translation of sacred Ngan’gi religious imagery into a relatively new form. Though intended for circulation in the commoditised and intercultural spaces of art exchanges, Ngan’gi works of art nevertheless remain anchored in Aboriginal systems of “image making”; drawing upon practices and relationships to the Land and the Dreaming (Myers 2002, 2006a; Morphy 2008). My ethnographic material revealed certain dilemmas concerning how to facilitate this symbolic
3 I use the term subject-matter when referring to the total content of a painting including the imagery and style of the design, the design story that is illustrated, and the layers of meaning communicated visually.
4 The potential for misunderstanding the connotations of the terms Dreamtime or Dreaming are well-debated, and partly due to a problematic origin outside of Aboriginal language and culture (see Wolfe 1991; Hume 2002).
In spite of the controversies these terms currently encompass both scholarly and popular discourse. Most importantly they are used by the Ngan’gi when describing their cosmology. The Dreaming incorporates a mythical past and a contemporary omnipresence of their Ancestors, the Dreaming designs they paint, and the Ancestral Law they respect and follow. Therefore, I will apply these terms in this text. Furthermore, I will explain and present the concepts Dreaming and Law in more detail below and in Chapter 2.
transfer of sacred imagery into saleable art. I will illustrate how the creation of Ngan’gi art involves complex interrelations between local art production practices and the art-exchanging practices of national art worlds. Consequently, it is my argument throughout this thesis that painting is, for an Aboriginal artist, both a promising and problematic activity. Furthermore, I argue that Ngan’gi works of art are contextual and dynamic in their creation, and that their participation on the art world bestows on them the status of intercultural objects.
It became my ambition to capture the dynamic characteristics of Ngan’gi art, while also illustrating how Ngan’gi art designs are always in a state of emergence, as the artists modify and develop them through interaction with other art world participants. Following this objective I found major inspiration in Morphy’s book Becoming Art: Exploring Cross- Cultural Categories (2008), in which he explores the changing socio-cultural context for the production and interpretation of Yolngu art. Motivated by the wording in his book title and by my interpretation of his perspective, which will be explored in more detail below, I chose to use “the becoming of art” as an analytical term that embraces all the constitutive aspects involved in the gradual creation of Ngan’gi art. To grasp Ngan’gi art one needs to describe its origin, cosmological foundation, the particular art production practices it emerges from, its styles and subject-matter, and the art worlds in which the art and Ngan’gi artists participate. I argue that by capturing the becoming of Ngan’gi art one can provide a point of entry for understanding how art exchanges facilitate changes in the art: When Ngan’gi artists produce and sell art they participate in processes of value creation that have a direct consequence in transforming their art’s value, status and meaning. I aspire to capture these value
transformations, while also taking a critical look at the paradoxes inherent in the circulation of Ngan’gi art. Consequently, the main ambition of this thesis is to provide an anthropological analysis of Ngan’gi art by thoroughly exploring, analysing and describing every side that constitute its “becoming,” achieved through answering two research questions:
How is Ngan’gi art affected in its process of becoming by its state of entanglement with interconnected art world contexts?
How do the art circulation and exchanges of Ngan’gi art simultaneously enable and limit Ngan’gi art production, artistic intentions, and cross-cultural communication?
My approach is to answer these questions through the use of three research objectives that pay attention to all of the practices that bring Ngan’gi art into being:
Firstly, I will explore the specific socio-historical contexts of art production within the Nauiyu community and Merrepen Arts. The Ngan’gi artists’ being-in-the-world is a combination of local traditions and kinship structures, together with governmental policies and organisational structures. These diverse factors incorporate conflicting, yet intertwined values and perspectives. I aim to capture how the entanglement of Ngan’gi art, artists, and Merrepen Arts management with such internal and external structures constitutes the art production in this community.
Secondly, I will analyse the emerging art created by Ngan’gi artists, with emphasis on their acrylic paintings on canvas; originating from a particular cultural imagination. I will examine the symbols used in each design to communicate stories of specific and manifested cultural meaning. Moreover, I will illustrate how cultural conventions concerning how to paint are entangled with artists’ senses of agency and the creative development of their personal styles.
Thirdly, I will include an examination of how Ngan’gi art is constituted through circulation in art exchanging contexts, by questioning whether Ngan’gi artists can participate autonomously in the discourses of the art market, when having to do so from “external”, and often foreign, art world contexts.
Ngan’gi Art: Beyond Sacred …
Before presenting a more detailed theoretical discussion of my anthropological art analysis, I shall briefly explain the landscape of Ngan’gi art production. In the present day contemporary Aboriginal art has become an increasingly commercial and artistic success, and it is regularly represented in significant art exhibitions, private and public collections in Australia and internationally (Caruana 2003). Merrepen Arts occupies a small corner of the Australian Aboriginal art movement, and for Ngan’gi artists, their local art centre provides their main location for artistic experimentation and communication with customer. Their art has also been extended to other privileged arenas of viewing, such as urban fine art galleries with national scope. I suggest that these spaces act as cross-cultural meeting places, creating interconnectedness between Aboriginal artists, customers, spectators, curators, and art critics;
all of these parties are brought together by a shared interest in art. I argue that in all art-
exchanging contexts such as these, there are two main activities performed that of “seeing” art and that of “showing” art. I find it interesting to use these terms as analytic concepts to
explore important processes of art appreciation and presentations, incorporating a mutually
art-constitutive interplay among four entities: Artists, who produce art with certain artistic intentions; art objects, with their visual and narrative particular attributes; the curator, who exhibits the art; and customers or spectators, viewing or purchasing art in art market institutions. It is precisely, I argue, through the social and aesthetic practices of seeing and showing that objects are made into art, and granted a particular value. I will also show how art objects are not passive, but integral in such processes of value production and in reproducing social relations. To Ngan’gi artists, paintings act as markers of identity. Ungunmerr’s
comment, quoted above, highlights my main concern in this thesis of capturing how and why the Ngan’gi artists have chosen to make painting a form of cultural performance that shares and mediates their worldview. Through art, they receive an opportunity to communicate culturally significant knowledge, messages and meaning to their spectators or consumers.
While so doing, they contribute in reorganising their relationship with the world, and finally also to negotiating existing boundaries for Western concepts of “art.”
In this thesis, I intend to explore how the subject-matter developed by Ngan’gi artists in their art features a particular cultural, socio-historical and religious foundation, which makes these objects interesting subjects for human action. Ngan’gi art embraces ways of thinking and being, skilled production, intercultural exchanges, and cultural change. Thus, I am analysing works of art where the artists makes references to a sacred cosmology and their particular life- world by illustrating everything from bush tucker to public Dreamtime stories; describing how the Aboriginal Ancestor created the world and Ancestral Law. As described in former anthropological research (Munn 1973; Sutton 1988; Morphy 1991; Myers 2002; Taylor 2007) there exists, according to the Dreaming cosmology, a notion of shared substance, originated in the past moments of Ancestral creation, between humans, Ancestors, the land, and the animals. According to Ngan’gi ontological concepts their notion of shared substance also extends to material forms. Therefore, many Aboriginal artists, including the Ngan’gi , interpret, experience and value their art as manifestations of spiritual and kinship-based identity, providing re-embodiments of Ancestral acts and the ancestrally-created world, linking the past to the present (Morphy 1991; Taylor 2007).
The Ancestors also left ownership of various sacred sites, referred to collectively as a Homeland or Home Country, Dede Putymemme in Ngan’gi, to kin groups to be inherited through patrilineal descent. Aesthetic painting practices are therefore structured and
controlled by Ancestral Law; encoding authorial claims over place and kin, permitting some
kin to paint particular designs, others to hold knowledge about them, and yet others merely to be able to view these works (McCulloch 1999). These rights of ritual origin are regarded as forms of inherited and shared artistic knowledge and they delineate the grounds for learning to paint (Morphy 1991). Thus, the creativity of Ngan’gi artists is expected to operate within the limits of Ancestral Law. In Ngan’gi production of commercial and saleable art, intended for the public domain, the artist can only make illustrations of certain regional stories and designs that are publicly known by all in the community, in contrast to the secret, sacred designs only existing in a ritualistic sphere. Furthermore, the artists are bound to respect kinship-based authority allowing for the reproduction of certain designs solely by the design- owning kinship group. Regardless of these painting conventions, my ethnographic material will illustrate how Ngan’gi art production allows for considerable artistic creativity in
recreating traditional patterns and practices, while incorporating and appropriating innovative new art media. At Merrepen Arts, all artists master and produce acrylic painting on canvas, screen printing on fabric, etching and serigraphy on paper, silk painting, batik, fibre weaving and slumped glass. Each design is created with a wide colour palette and a variety of styles and compositions. Thus, I argue that Ngan’gi artistic practices are situated in the nexus
between shared past and present cultural painting convention and individual artistic creativity.
Ngan’gi artists have a strong focus on artistic creativity, and their colourful, vivid, decorative, and figurative designs have a slightly different regional style when compared with Aboriginal art produced in other areas of Australia. While the art of the neighbouring Arnhem Land regions and the Western Desert has been the subject of extensive anthropological research, the art of Nauiyu has been relatively neglected as a research topic. In addition to engaging with anthropological debates regarding art, I also aim to present new ethnography concerning the Ngan’gi art of Nauiyu. As such, this thesis adds to the body of anthropological knowledge and the analysis of Aboriginal art in Australia.
From early on in its history, the Australian state assumed the role as a powerful patron of Aboriginal art (Lattas 1991), as the support of local art production was part of the
government’s wider aim of respecting Aboriginal wishes and supporting the development of their cultural heritage (Taylor 2005). In 1975, the Australian Council for the Arts established the Aboriginal Arts Board in which Aboriginal artists were represented. This organisation provided important funding for the production and promotion of Aboriginal art (Altman 2007). Subsequently, following such funding and a growing art market interest in Aboriginal
art non-profit art centres, owned cooperatively by local artists, were established during the 1970s in many Aboriginal communities across Australia (Altman et al. 2005; Taylor 2005).
As noted by Altman (1990), employment prospects are constrained in rural Aboriginal communities by the lack of a substantial economic base and limited access to external, well- developed labour markets. Thus, for many Aborigines, local art centres became places for art production and channels for distribution of their art, as well as providing steady income and a primary source of employment through CDEP.5 The Aboriginal art and craft industry was initiated on a local level, but became a national endeavour through state support. Champions of this industry were motivated by the opportunities to maintain a living cultural heritage embodied in the art and to improve the social and economic well-being of Aborigines by providing employment and income (Altman 2007).
Ngan’gi art production has undoubtedly contributed to artistic development and recognition, as well as providing income to the artists. However, my ethnographic material will illustrate how these opportunities are simultaneously flanked by certain challenges, contradictions, ambivalence, and intercultural confrontations that are particular to Aboriginal art. Ngan’gi art is subjected to many contradictory and mutable art conceptualisations, financial and visual judgments, and dynamic transformations when shifted to the aestheticised art worlds (Myers 1995). To put it bluntly, perhaps the only thing that is shared between customers and artists is the exchange itself, that of art for money. Furthermore, one may also presume that this swap does not always create a form of shared understanding of the significance of Aboriginal art, as intended by the Ngan’gi artists. I believe it is most interesting to a current anthropological study to explore how the Ngan’gi confront and engage with such challenges inherent in art world exchanges. Questioning how particular contradictions may complicate art exchanges and cross-cultural communication, as well as limit uninhibited artistic creativity, will be central points of interest throughout this thesis.
Providing a preliminary summary of the most significant contradictions that may exist
between Aboriginal artists and their customers, the main one is the Ngan’gi artists’ insistence that their art has a sacred value because these works are created with reference to the
Dreaming. In contrast most customers appreciate these artworks as commodities that, at best,
5 CDEP (Community Development Employment Projects) is a flexible scheme established in the late 1970s through which Aborigines are given part-time positions in exchange for unemployment benefits funded by DEWR (the Federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations) to perform various administrative, management, and practical tasks in their communities (Altman et al. 2005).
are “pretty pictures.” The authority of certain art world representatives to include the works of chosen Ngan’gi artists in fine art contexts, while excluding others, remains a mystery to the artists. They place great value on all of their works of art; for them, the sharing of culture is what imparts value to a painting, not artistic reputation, financial worth, or a fine art style.
These are but two of the many contradictions between the local community-based art centres and the global art market, with respect to interpreting and appreciating Aboriginal art.
Ngan’gi artists are also limited by institutional authority and structural constraints that are not of their own making. The curators, critics, fine art gallery owners, and consumers of the art are predominately non-Aboriginal. Although Ngan’gi art is produced at a local art centre, this creative space is still, in many ways, governed by majority-based policies grounded in the Australian National state. The art world contexts sustain agendas, perspectives, and values that, while having conflicting properties, are mutually dependent and linked together in a multitude of ways. Exploring the becoming of Ngan’gi art will illustrate why the Ngan’gi artists have chosen the path of artistic inventiveness. This exploration will also inform how their intention transforms the art’s meaning, status, and value, as it moves from its creators to its consumers though intermediary and stratified art world contexts.
In the following section I discuss how a general approach to art is relevant to Aboriginal art.
Then a theoretical discussion of anthropological perspectives in the analysis of Aboriginal art is provided as context for the perspective I use in my analysis of Ngan’gi art.
What Is Art?
Art is an instrument of value, and the paths chosen and theoretical perspectives adopted in anthropological studies of objects are affected by specific notions of “art” and “culture,”
which have historically changed significantly through time and space (Morphy 1994).
Therefore, the introductory question preceding a theoretical discussion must be: What is art?
The word “art” derives from the archaic word ars being a Latin root with its source in the word artus, meaning to join or fit together with skill (Vogel 1989; Morphy 1994). This definition, in line with the etymology of the word art, focuses on craftsmanship, the necessary knowledge, physical skills, and techniques an artist possesses to be able to create an object with certain visual and material qualities (Hatcher 1999). Other definitions of art are more focused on the non-practical, viewing art as exclusive and having sublime attributes when compared with practical objects. From this perspective art is created by talented individuals
who hold an elevated status. Whether focused on the aesthetic or practical side of art
production, criteria for which attributes grant objects with the status of being considered art, and include them in various art world contexts, are constantly changing. Therefore, the word
“art” is a contested term often used in a generalising approach, to classify seemingly
incomparable objects of a certain value under the same banner (Svašek 2007). The British art historian E. H. Gombrich captures the fickle nature of art definitions by stating that “there is really no such thing as art” (1963: 5). Or, similarly stated by Layton, “art is a difficult phenomenon to define … because there is an imprecise boundary between art and non-art whose location seems often to shift according to fashion and ideology” (1991: 4). Instead of eschewing a definition of art I suggest that a useful starting point can be found in three art definitions, originated in European art history. This approach was also used by Morphy (1994) in his discussion of anthropology and art, because the Western term “art” has, through anthropological discourse, and through global art market circulation, been extended also into non-Western cultures. Morphy initially identifies, an institutional definition of art focused on how the settings, contexts, and institutions in which art circulates contribute to the abstract process of assigning objects the elevated status of art through inclusion (1994: 651). Then, art is defined according to certain attributes of the object: being aesthetic, representational, or functional (1994: 651). Finally, objects are defined as art if they are created by their makers with the intention of being works of art (1994: 652). I believe that these definitions could be usefully applied in an analysis of Ngan’gi art, and I will illustrate below how the combination of anthropological and art historical perspectives can provide a useful analytical approach to capture the totality of Ngan’gi art. However, before discussing the relevance of these
definitions in an anthropological analysis of Ngan’gi art specifically, it is necessary to first question their cross-cultural application.
A critical rejection of the cross-cultural application of these art definitions could be founded on a claim that in many indigenous cultures, the word “art” used in a Western manner does not exist. Abiodun et al. (1994) argue that the terms art, aesthetics, and style developed in such close connected to Western or European art history and art worlds, that they may resist non-Western approaches to art. These terms may appear irrelevant simply because the core meanings originally surrounding non-Western material objects are of a different origin.
Historically, art was a generally neglected theme in anthropological research, precisely, as suggested by Morphy (1994) and Morphy and Perkins (2006), because of the difficulty of cross-cultural application of the term “art.” Furthermore, the study of art, as that of other
material objects, was associated with social evolutionary approaches, which periodically created a separation between the anthropology of art and mainstream anthropology.
Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the anthropological interest in art was limited to a focus on form, styles, decoration, and motives in objects studied as ritual or functional artifacts; these attributes revealed cultural particularities. From the 1960s and 70s onwards, there was a renewed interest among anthropologists to study art with an emphasis on exploring the social complexities of art production in specific cultures in terms of symbolism, meaning, and exchange, which closed the gap between material culture studies and
mainstream anthropology. The anthropology of art gradually shifted from being an neglected theme of research, to receiving a more central position in the discipline, as new perspectives united the study of form and content (Morphy 1994; Morphy et al. 2006).
To complicate the matter of defining indigenous art the art world representatives have created their own diversified representations as anthropologists have simultaneously developed their approaches to non-Western material objects. Michaels (1988, 1994) argues that because Aboriginal art began circulating in our art world institutions, cross-cultural application of the term “art” was and is problematic. This problem is mainly due to contradicting discourses that immediately surfaced surrounding Aboriginal art resisting a resolution; that is, as mentioned, Aboriginal artists themselves insist that their commercial products are founded in a sacred Dreaming. Initially, Aboriginal art was defined as primitive, authentic, and exotic curiosa crafted by “natural born Picassos” (Michaels 1994) or “magicians of the earth” (Lattas 1991).
Aboriginal material objects were exhibited in museums as ethnographic artifacts confined to live dioramas. As saleable production increased, Aboriginal material objects came to be regarded in certain art market contexts as skilfully made craft. This changed during the 1970s, as particular Aboriginal art styles were elevated to the status of fine art and received
recognition as the “flavour of the month” (Michaels 1994) in certain art world contexts in Europe and America. Each representation directly shapes the public’s comprehension of Aboriginal art and, thus, also influenced Aboriginal art production and artistic status.
Art terminology is undoubtedly entangled with particular historical precedents and changing conceptualisations, making the Western concept of art, to some extent, difficult to translate.
This is particularly true, when art in spite of its dynamic characteristics, is conceived by some as a unique and essentialised category. Nevertheless, Morphy and Perkins (2006) claim that it is possible to find cross-cultural equivalences in the understanding of art. However, it is
necessary to operate with a broad and expansive concept of art, because art is an encompassing category with arbitrary connotations and fussy boundaries, including
innumerable and differentiated objects, activities, contexts, and multicultural concepts. Rather than considering art as a universal, generalised category Svašek (2007) recognises the
profoundly processual nature of art; she uses her term “processual relativism” to describe and capture art objects as social, dynamic, alive, and always in a state of emergence; created through their embeddedness with, and participation in, society with its historically specific and changing ideas and practices. Thus, partly inspired by these views, I suggest two possible solutions to define art. Narrow definitions of art should be abandoned for an understanding of art as an intercultural and complex term. It is necessary to recognise that the definitions and representations surrounding art change, as described above, precisely because art is integrated within continuing processes of value creation and aesthetic judgments, which are closely associated with particular ways of understanding and valuing Aboriginal material culture. I further suggest that a dismissal of the cross-cultural application of the concept of art, does not engage with present art discourses. When defining contemporary art, one should not focus on the particular cultural relativism of art in bounded cultures, but rather take a processual view on art as part of universal, cross-cultural, and dynamic exchanges and contexts (Svašek 2007).
As commented by Morphy and Perkins (2006), the word “art” and the role of artists has been adopted almost globally by indigenous artists themselves, describing a range of practices involving creativity and the production of expressive culture. Today most Ngan’gi who practice commercial art production identify themselves as artists, creating works intended to be sold as art, and motivated by the opportunity that paintings provide for visual mediation of the artists’ life-world and cosmology. Thus, painting is a creative activity, and art is born initially when the artists give objects a reality emanating from their artistic will.
Caruana (2003) argues that objects, including Aboriginal material objects, can be defined as art simply because the producers see themselves as professional artists creating something with the intention of it being art. However, I believe that an isolated focus on intention might simplify a more complex situation. Even though artists may produce and distribute art with certain personal intentions, there is no absolute freedom in art production and no guarantee that an artist’s work will be appreciated in the manner the artist intended. Intention is but one element in the total becoming of art.
Plate 0.2 Philip Merrdi Wilson painting “Yerrwirimbi” (white gum tree) in January 2008.
“Yerrwirimbi” is Wilson’s creative intention to illustrate shark season. There is a shared knowledge among the Ngan’gi that the time to hunt for sharks is when the bark starts flaking towards the end of the dry season. Wilson chooses to interpret this seasonal sign visually by painting the structure of a section of the bark of the white gum tree in this abstract design.
Aboriginal art is thoroughly involved and represented in various art world discourses and contexts and Aboriginal artists share many of the same contexts and artistic intentions as Western artists. Thus, I argue one cannot research Aboriginal art without acknowledging that it has become embedded in Western art history through such cross-cultural encounters
facilitated by art circulation. Thomas (1997) goes so far as to argue that in the anthropology of art, the former disciplinary framing of “Western versus non-Western art” needs to be rejected as redundant, because it bears no correspondence to the current division of cultural domains and practices. A sharp distinction between so-called indigenous and Western art overlooks the entanglement created by an actual sharing of art media, art world institutions, and an
international art circulation. My material demonstrates that the exchange of Aboriginal art does breach some boundaries; nevertheless, others remain, founded on differentiated painting practices. In conclusion I will use the word art in this text when analysing the works of the Ngan’gi of Nauiyu; which are particular in origin and content, yet also entangled with so- called Western art concepts through processes of circulation.
Preceding further discussion, I find it useful to briefly summarise earlier anthropological theoretical perspectives concerning the particular case of analysing Aboriginal art, while also illustrating how these perspectives have inspired my own theoretical analysis of Ngan’gi art.
Steps Towards an Anthropological Analysis of Aboriginal Art
Among the many potential paths in the anthropological analysis of Aboriginal art, I have chosen to discuss three main approaches; the first arguing that art is conceptualised according to its symbolic attributes, the second that it is brought into being through its circulation, and the third focusing on artistic intention.
A symbolic or semantic art analysis provides an exploration of the meaning and content communicated in figurative and abstract designs. That is how the formal and abstract ordering of ideas in representative signs is used as applied to visual forms in art, to symbolically display an incorporated meaning (Layton 1991). In Australia, anthropological research that unites a focus on form, function, and symbolism in Aboriginal material culture is well established. Mountford (1961), Berndt (1970), and Munn (1970, 1973), among others, all played an important role in promoting Aboriginal art as a field of inquiry through their
research on the Western Desert visual imagery of the Warlbiri, which was painted in the sand, on wooden objects, or as ceremonial body painting, and were strongly embedded in a
cosmological and ceremonial context. Through an iconographic analysis of the geometric elements and visual signs in Warlbiri designs their research attempted to decipher the particular meaning and religious significance communicated visually as the designs made reference to mythological events, features in the landscape, or human activities. In contrast, as a former art research who employed iconographic analysis, (see Panofsky 1955)6, Munn (1973) in her research of Warlbiri art, holds that the cultural background of the artists is of great importance when analysing how symbols that incorporate meaning are context- dependent and open to subjective negotiations, and thus, part of social action. In her
6 I am familiar with how Panofsky identified three levels of analysing objects of representation in European art (see 1955: 26-30). Panofsky’s second level, which refers to his definition of the term iconography, explored the
“subject-matter or meaning of works of art, as opposed to their form,” where artistic motifs are carriers of conventional meaning and connected to certain themes, may be considered relevant in an analysis of Aboriginal art. In particularly Panofsky understood that people share culturally-specific knowledge that must be learned before one can grasp the inner meaning icons symbolised in paintings. However, he wanted a form of art analysis enabling an art critic to assess an object without resorting to the artist’s cultural background, which is not relevant to an analysis of Aboriginal art. I will not apply the term iconography in my analysis because I am more interested in analysing, in line with Morphy’s (1991), the relationship between forms and meaning in paintings as negotiated in practice by individual artists.