Landmark exhibition Yolngu power comes to the Art Gallery of NSW
One of Australia's most internationally renowned arts communities is now on show at the Art Gallery of NSW.
The exhibition, Yolngu Power: the art of the Yirrkala, features almost 300 works by 98 Aboriginal artists connected to Yirrkala in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land.
The collection traces the history of art from the world-renowned community and showcases the continuation of and diversity within practice from the 1940s to today.
Coinciding with Yolngu Power, The Mulka Project is also premiering a major new commission in the Art Gallery's Nelson Packer Tank.
The first look has been given to Yalu, an immersive light and sound experience designed to bring the colours and songs of Yolngu country to the former wartime oil bunker underneath the gallery.
The exhibition opened today, June 21, and will run until October.
The Art Gallery of NSW said: 'The exhibition is presented in partnership with the Aboriginal-owned art centre, Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre located in Yirrkala.
'The art centre was established as an act of Yolngu self-determination in the 1970s, in the midst of the land rights movement.
'Decades earlier, artists at Yirrkala were among the first Indigenous Australians to employ art as a political tool, most notably through the Yirrkala Bark Petitions of 1963, which were sent to the Australian Parliament to assert Yolngu custodianship of Country.
'Yolngu people have painted sacred designs on the body and objects since time immemorial.
'Known as miny'tji these designs are not merely decorative, they are important patterns that denote the interconnection between Yolŋu people, law and Country.
'Through these visual languages, artists from Yirrkala have shared art as a means of cultural diplomacy — as a respectful assertion of power in its diverse forms, from sovereignty to influence, authority and control, to energy, strength and pride.'
NSW Arts Minister John Graham said the exhibition was an incredible opportunity for both NSW locals and tourists.
'This exhibition will be a rare opportunity in Sydney to experience the power and generosity of the artists of Yirrkala, one of Australia's most revered arts communities,' he said.
'I urge locals and visitors to make their way to the Art Gallery of New South Wales this winter for this exceptional exhibition that celebrates the artists of Yirrkala whose contribution to both Australian and international art, is profound.'
Art Gallery of NSW director Maud Page said she was 'immensely proud' of the gallery's history with the Yirrkala community.
'We are delighted to come together again to present our major winter exhibition, Yolngu power: the art of Yirrkala,' she said.
Yolngu power: the art of Yirrkala spotlights Yirrkala artists spanning multiple generations and art forms including bark paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture in both wood and metal, alongside video works and immersive digital installations.
Exhibition curator and Art Gallery of New South Wales head of First Nations, Cara Pinchbeck said: 'Yolngu power explores the distinct shifts in practice instigated by artists as a means of asserting power through art over time.
'This power takes diverse forms, from the power inherent in the sacred designs of miny'tji and the cultural inheritance of artists, to the transformation of natural and reclaimed materials into exceptional artworks and the sentience of Country as it is enlivened by seasonal change.'
Yolngu power: the art of Yirrkala will be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW, in the Ainsworth Family Gallery in Naala Badu from June 21 to October 6, 2025.
Tickets are now on sale alongside tickets for the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2025 exhibition.
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ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala explores First Nations' worldview in hopes of promoting shared understanding
Hundreds of traditional artworks, connecting generations of remote First Nations communities for almost a century, are now part of a public showcase in Sydney. Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala opened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales this weekend, bringing together almost 300 pieces created by 98 Aboriginal artists over eight decades. The pieces are from parts of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, and include an array of mediums such as bark painting, drawing, video, print, sculpture — both wooden and metal — and immersive installations. Cara Pinchbeck, a senior curator at the gallery, said the artworks have helped explain the First Nations' worldview "as a form of cultural diplomacy" for more than 90 years, in hopes of bringing people together through shared understanding. She explained Yirrkala art-making had centred on an "invitation to walk together" since creators first began sharing their work with non-Aboriginal people in the mid-1930s. "One particular individual, who I was interviewing one day, said 'they're amazing, beautiful works, but no one appreciates … how important they are in terms of documenting our law,'" she said. "The main thing to take from all of these works is the generosity of the artists in constantly sharing with us their cultural knowledge [and] connection to Country. Ms Pinchbeck said the way art styles have historically adapted in response to changing social, cultural, and political circumstances had formed a key part of the exhibition. Bingyu Warripanda, chair of the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, said storytelling through art dated back to Australia's colonisation, with bark paintings and designs drawn in sand used to communicate beyond language barriers. "It is really important to share this, Australia." Maud Page, director of the gallery, described the showcase as "not only aesthetically breathtaking", but "incredibly powerful" in mapping history. She said the exhibition was "a really significant landmark" that shared "Australia's most internationally acclaimed arts community" with the public. "The exhibition is a testament to the strength and sovereignty of Yolŋu artists," Ms Page said. Wurrandan Marawili, from the Maḏarrpa clan, encouraged people from all walks of life to journey together "for a better future" and said his art was driven by a desire to help the world understand "Yolŋu power". His sculpture was welded together over several months, repurposing materials collected from the rubbish and along the side of the road. Like many other artists in the showcase, he began creating at a young age with advice passed down from his father. "Not just for this [medium], he taught me everything — dancing, singing," he said. "When he was alive, I was always there beside him, watching and listening. "We are following our old people, doing [art] in the same way." Naminapu Maymuru-White also began creating in her youth after watching others, developing a special interest in depicting the Milky Way. Her artworks represent the "two rivers" her Maŋgalili clan believe to exist, one running along the earth and one flowing into the sky that guides spirits. The artist taught her children to continue the creative legacy, passing her skills on to the next generation the same way her father did. "Dad said to us, 'you continue doing your art in my footsteps,'" she said. She hoped that sharing Yirrkala art would help society understand her people and make them feel more equal, "so that we can work together". Inside the gallery, attendees are guided along a short journey through Yirrkala and into a room detailing sacred designs for the 16 clans of North-East Arnhem Land — which are painted on the body for traditional ceremonies and reflect familial ties — then taken through changing art styles and mediums over time, to the artists of today. The exhibition will run until October 6.
7NEWS
10 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Landmark exhibition Yolngu power comes to the Art Gallery of NSW
One of Australia's most internationally renowned arts communities is now on show at the Art Gallery of NSW. The exhibition, Yolngu Power: the art of the Yirrkala, features almost 300 works by 98 Aboriginal artists connected to Yirrkala in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land. The collection traces the history of art from the world-renowned community and showcases the continuation of and diversity within practice from the 1940s to today. Coinciding with Yolngu Power, The Mulka Project is also premiering a major new commission in the Art Gallery's Nelson Packer Tank. The first look has been given to Yalu, an immersive light and sound experience designed to bring the colours and songs of Yolngu country to the former wartime oil bunker underneath the gallery. The exhibition opened today, June 21, and will run until October. The Art Gallery of NSW said: 'The exhibition is presented in partnership with the Aboriginal-owned art centre, Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre located in Yirrkala. 'The art centre was established as an act of Yolngu self-determination in the 1970s, in the midst of the land rights movement. 'Decades earlier, artists at Yirrkala were among the first Indigenous Australians to employ art as a political tool, most notably through the Yirrkala Bark Petitions of 1963, which were sent to the Australian Parliament to assert Yolngu custodianship of Country. 'Yolngu people have painted sacred designs on the body and objects since time immemorial. 'Known as miny'tji these designs are not merely decorative, they are important patterns that denote the interconnection between Yolŋu people, law and Country. 'Through these visual languages, artists from Yirrkala have shared art as a means of cultural diplomacy — as a respectful assertion of power in its diverse forms, from sovereignty to influence, authority and control, to energy, strength and pride.' NSW Arts Minister John Graham said the exhibition was an incredible opportunity for both NSW locals and tourists. 'This exhibition will be a rare opportunity in Sydney to experience the power and generosity of the artists of Yirrkala, one of Australia's most revered arts communities,' he said. 'I urge locals and visitors to make their way to the Art Gallery of New South Wales this winter for this exceptional exhibition that celebrates the artists of Yirrkala whose contribution to both Australian and international art, is profound.' Art Gallery of NSW director Maud Page said she was 'immensely proud' of the gallery's history with the Yirrkala community. 'We are delighted to come together again to present our major winter exhibition, Yolngu power: the art of Yirrkala,' she said. Yolngu power: the art of Yirrkala spotlights Yirrkala artists spanning multiple generations and art forms including bark paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture in both wood and metal, alongside video works and immersive digital installations. Exhibition curator and Art Gallery of New South Wales head of First Nations, Cara Pinchbeck said: 'Yolngu power explores the distinct shifts in practice instigated by artists as a means of asserting power through art over time. 'This power takes diverse forms, from the power inherent in the sacred designs of miny'tji and the cultural inheritance of artists, to the transformation of natural and reclaimed materials into exceptional artworks and the sentience of Country as it is enlivened by seasonal change.' Yolngu power: the art of Yirrkala will be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW, in the Ainsworth Family Gallery in Naala Badu from June 21 to October 6, 2025. Tickets are now on sale alongside tickets for the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2025 exhibition.
Sydney Morning Herald
18 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Like nothing you have seen before': Meet the artists entrancing New York
Yolŋu Power: The Art of Yirrkala brings together almost 300 works created over eight decades in a collaboration between AGNSW and one of Australia's leading Aboriginal art centres – presented in the same gallery as the blockbuster exhibitions of international artists Louise Bourgeois and Cao Fei. Gallery curator Cara Pinchbeck is reluctant to call it a retrospective. Instead, the exhibition has been organised around significant moments in Yirrkala's history when artists have consciously altered their practice, developed new styles or embraced new mediums. Featured are the works of at least four generations, and multiple families who anchor artist and community led practice at Yirrkala, including the father and sisters of Yothu Yindi's late frontman, Mandawuy Yunupingu, and artists currently entrancing the international art world: Gunybi Ganambarr and Dhambit Munuŋgurr. Artists from the Yirrkala region have repeatedly utilised art for the purposes of political activism, the most famous example being the Ṉäku Dhäruk or Bark Petitions in 1963, in which 12 clansmen petitioned the Australian Parliament to recognise the Yolŋu's undying connection to Country and protest its decision to excise 300 square kilometres of Arnhem Land for bauxite mining. Described as the Magna Carta for Australia's Indigenous people, these petitions are credited with kick-starting the Indigenous land rights movement. Loading Painted in ochre, charcoal and pipeclay on petition borders are sacred designs or 'miny'tji', important patterns denoting the interconnection between Yolŋu people, law and Country, Pinchbeck says. 'Our power comes from the land which is alive,' says artist Yinimala Gumana when asked to explain why Yirrkala has become such a hotbed of creativity. 'We are its voice. It is our duty. Everyone, every human is an artist. In our culture we are required to express our identity be it through art, song, dance, ceremony or maintaining culture.' In fact, the Yolŋu regard anthropologists' use of the term Dreamtime as incorrect, puzzling, even annoying. A more accurate description of the circular structure of time is 'everywhen'. For Gumana, the right to paint was handed down from the men of his clan when he was a boy of 14. During the 1950s, Nyapililŋu and Galuma Maymuru were among the first women to be instructed in painting miny'tji. Loading 'When the land rights movement is gaining momentum, the style of painting focuses on detailed paintings of country and schools of painters emerge within families,' Pinchbeck says. 'In the 1990s there is an explosion of printmaking and women become central to the print studio, and then men generally join in. 'For some of the women who haven't been instructed in painting of clan designs by their fathers there's almost a hesitancy to paint those designs so printmaking introduces themselves to their own forms of self-expression.' The departure from ancestral templates has in recent times led to more innovative use of reclaimed materials and metal by senior artist Ganambarr. Also represented is the audiovisual work by the centre's Mulka Project, including a 'live termite mound' and a multimedia light and sound installation in the 125-column The Tank gallery.
