Spirit In The Land

This week I visited Spirit In The Land, an Australian art exhibition curated by Robert Lindsay held in the Sate Library of South Australia from the 27th of August to the 23rd of October 2011. The exhibition has put together the work of 11 well-respected Australian Indigenous and non-Indegenous artists, to explore this idea of how the Australian landscape has played an important role in the history of Australian art. The range of work that I encountered that all played tribute to this theme I found really interesting, especially because the Indigenous work was mixed within the non-Indigenous. I thought it was interesting to compare how the two cultures approached the same country and it's various landscapes.

The works Narrbongs by Indigenous artist Lorraine Cownelly really stood out to me beacuse of it's raw and contemporary take on this idea of the Australian land. The work presents a series of baskets made out of found materials like pressed rusted tin, fencing and barbed wire, fly-wire gauze, burnt roof guttering, mesh and even a bag with a saw blade for a handle. I thought it was really clever the way she translated the traditional method of aboriginal weaving, which uses natural elements like grass roots, to present a more contemporary representation of the land using urban/industial found materials that have aged and been left amougst the environment. The rusted, stained and warped forms the metals took on I think present a really nice testament to the harsh landscapes Australia is made from, but keeping a live an old craft.

Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Narrbong (string bag),
ring-lock wire mesh, 124 x 95 x 66cm

After hearing about contemporary Indigenous artist Lin Onus in this weeks lecture on 'Urban Based' Indigenous Artists, it was good to see some his work at the exhibition His piece Ginger and my Third Wife Approach the Roundabout (1914), depicts a very surreal scene of sting-rays floating above the dirt ground and a half-buried roundabout sign. Although the scene looks western in it's photorealist painting style, the back of the sting-rays painted with rarrk present the inclusion of aboriginal techniques and understanding in painting with their tradition of representing animal motifs. The 14 trips Onus has made to Maningrida region to learn the traditional painting style of their Indigenous people comes across very strongly and skilfully in this way, communicating this dedication and understanding Onus has taken on over his career. Whilst I appreciate how Onus has bravely experimented with this combination of art practices and cultures, personally I felt disconnected to the piece and to me I think it felt a little too forced and discreet. Part of the reason I felt this was was because I much preferred his approach in his other painting in the exhibition, Jimmy's Billabong (1988), that overlays a traditional aboriginal pattern similar to rarrk over the top of a realistically depicted landscape painting of an Australian billabong. The overall effect is quite significant where the direct aesthetic combination of the two painting methods results in a striking and almost 'pixelated' or 'digitally-enhanced' appearance of the scene. I think the result of a simple method like this creating this visually strong effect was quite beautiful and something I could appreciate and personally admire more. For me it raises questions of cultural ownership and marking the land natural sites in Australia.

Lin Onus, Jimmy's billabong, 1988,
synthetic polymer paint on canvas 114.0 h x 235.0 w cm 

Apart from the beautiful work by the other included artists like Rover Thomas and Emily Kame, I found Dorothy Napangardi's paintings of a more traditional Indigenous approach really powerful and inspiring. Her work Sandhills of Mina Mina (2000) presents an aerial view of the sand dune patterns of the salt lakes of Tanami in a dot pattern of yellows, greys and crimson hues. It was truly perplexing to me how much depth, form and shape was created just through this pattern which could only have been represented by someone who truly understands the nature of the landscape. Through this understanding Napangardi can show it's natural cycle and stages presenting sand ridges, erosion and, crystalline cracking and water rivulets all through the same technique and pattern. Dorothy Napangardi's other piece Karntakurlangu Jakurrpa (2000) also stood out for me, especially because it represents the digging stick possessing dreaming, or Karnta-kurlangu Jukurrpa, instructed in the ritual known as 'Woman's Dreaming'. This reminded me of the Djan'kawu Sisters dreaming story of Northeast Arnhem land that also involved digging sticks. I remember how fascinating it was seeing this ceremony of this dreaming carried out and how important the 'Yirindidi ' stripe painting was, as it was used across the artwork of the area and throughout many elements of the ceremony including being painted on participants bodies. Through the Yirindidi stripes the fascinating dreaming story of the formation of the Northeast Arnhmen land coastline is communicated. Going back to Dorothy Napangardi's painting, reading about how this other digging stick possessing dreaming forms the basis of a lot of her work, I felt I had a greater appreciation of how important this would be to her as part of her heritage. Whilst what I really liked about the painting was it's aesthetic quality of the painstakingly detailed and intricate pattern, I felt more appreciative of the painting because of how much more understanding and information it must possess for the artist and Indigenous people familiar with that dreaming.

Dorothy Napangardi, Sandhills of Mina Mina, 2000
synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 198.0 x 122.0 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Overall the exhibition, whilst smaller than I originally expected, was surprisingly diverse in it's selection of Indigenous artwork, giving me enough of a diversity to see the different modern and traditional approaches the Australian land. Each artists has his or her own way of showing what the country they live in means or evokes for them, and was a great reflecting point for me to think about how this could become represented in my work, and what it means for me.


References:

• Art Almanac, (July 2009), "Gallery Listings", http://www.art-almanac.com.au/page.php?page=100, (accessed: 15/9/2011)
• National Gallery of Australia, (2010), "Australian Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Art: Lin Onus",  http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=86644&View=LRG, (accessed: 15/9/2011)
• NETS Victoria, (2009), "Dorothy Napangardi: Sandhills of Mira Mira", http://www.netsvictoria.org.au/sandhills-of-mina-mina?PHPSESSID=bde7f3122e71649a08a1c02c51e52197, (accessed: 15/9/2011)
• Robert Lindsay., "Spirit In The Land" (Exhibition media release digital form released August 11th, 2011), Flinders University: Art Museum, http://www.flinders.edu.au/artmuseum/documents/Media-SpiritintheLand.pdf, (accessed: 15/9/2011)