FEATURE Junk Sculpture Festival The Sculptures of Atauro islandBy Rosa Ellen A woman puts on goggles, She is one of the women-only Alonso’s documentary Wawata Topu island culture they have managed says Barrkman, but is in fact takes a spear and in skirt divers known as the ‘mermaids’ of – Timor-Leste’s Mermaids. to preserve this tradition.” incredibly arid and was used as a and thongs, free dives into Atauro, a tiny island population 743 prison island by the Portuguese a turqoise reef off Atauro kilometres from Darwin, with an CDU Art Gallery curator Joanna That tradition has transformed from and Indonesians. Its 8,000 people Island north of Dili. ancient kinship to the sea and an Barrkman first came across Atauro one that worshiped ancient fertility survive on subsistence farming and extraordinary sculpture tradition Island’s sculptures in Dili in 2000, deities and ancestors, to what is fishing. that honours it. when she saw a man hawking now a small industry in its own wooden figures to aid workers and right – which a small but dedicated “People used to navigate the Wetar Long sold as tourist souvenirs in UN staff outside the Tropical Bakery number of young men are choosing Strait from Atauro to Dili, before East Timor’s capital, these striking, Cafe. as a livelihood. there were ferries. That’s a very elongated wood sculptures are dangerous and deep body of water,” now the subject of a world-first He was Antonio Soares, a master A contemporary example of a says Barrkman. exhibition at Charles Darwin carver, who travelled by boat over sculpture shows a fine-featured University (CDU) Art Gallery. The the Wetar Strait where he would diver, in thongs and glass goggles, “There’s a lot of mythology around Sculptures of Atauro Island lifts spend days looking for customers. complete with miniature lenses. that crossing…beliefs in mermaids World Refugee Day the lid on the animistic origins of and mermen and eels, and the these carvings and their unique “I thought they were very elegant “Antonio is a master carver but power of those creatures to take adaptation to the modern world. sculptures and they’re very there’s also younger men that are people under water, to drown,” says distinctive,” says Barrkman, an carving,” says Barrkman. “There’s Barrkman. Charting more than a century of the expert in Southeast Asian art. “I actually a collective from Atauro tradition, the gallery has assembled was aware that wood sculpture had Island who are based in Dili, and Bringing to life ancient myths and rare figurines and masks from virtually died out in the western they are producing sculptures and the challenges of a new nation, The private international collections and part of the island because there’s selling them on the esplanade. It’s Sculptures of Atauro Island unveils museums here and in East Timor. been a change in recent decades in definitely become a contemporary a living, breathing art form to a new WHEN UNTIL SAT 15 JUL architectural materials. art practice.” and lucky Darwin audience. AT CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY Documentaries screen alongside COST FREE the art, putting it in context and “To some extent that’s the case in Popping out of the ocean just 30 INFO cdu.edu.au/artgallery explaining the mythical traditions East Timor (as well), but Atauro’s a kilometres from Dili, Atauro Island of the local people, such as Enrique little island, and somehow being a looks magical from the mainland, 4.