CONTINUING THE PAST – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in the MCA Collection CLASS KIT W mca.com.au/learn MCA Continuing the past 2 INTRODUCTION What is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art? Quite simply, it is the work produced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. This work may reference cultural and historical themes that relate to Indigeneity, but it is not restricted to this. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art feature diverse media and span many art forms including painting, sculpture, video work, sound work, installation, photography, performance and weaving. This class kit is one of a four-part series that engages with the diversity, specificity and uniqueness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, communities and cultures through four themes. This class kit will engage with the theme of ‘Continuing Brook Andrew Warrang 2012 the past’ and reflects our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander animated LED arrow, Australian hardwood with shou-sugi-ban finish, Cultural Learning Framework. The three other class kits are sandblasted concrete. Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary themed ‘Connecting to Country’, ‘Telling our stories’ and Art Australia, 2012. Image courtesy and © the artist ‘Making your mark’. MCA Continuing the past 3 Close your eyes and think about the travel you did from waking up this morning to now. What sounds, smells or sights did you experience along the way? • Were sounds you heard at home different to what you heard at school or at the park? • What were all the twists and turns you took – up staircases, over hills, past trees, birds, water, or down different streets? • What Country did you start on? Was it Gadigal, Bidjigal or Wangal? Burramatigal, Cammeraygal or Dharug? Do some research to find out if the Country you started on is the same as where you are now. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY At the MCA, we acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the ACTIVITY land and waters upon which the MCA stands. Find out what Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islands Nation or Country you are on and acknowledge the custodians of this land. MCA Continuing the past 4 Think of a technique or skill that your parents or grandparents have taught you. For example, knitting, cooking a meal or riding a bike. • How did they teach you or pass on this information? • How would you teach this skill to someone else? What changes would you make? WARM-UP MCA Continuing the past 5 “ I create new ways all the time. They are only my ideas... I pass on my ideas to my children and to my grandchildren. It is important that I teach them, because one day I will be gone, and they will take my place. Lena Yarinkura,” Ngalmudj (Rainbow Serpent) 2016 (artist statement) MCA Continuing the past 6 Left to right: Lena Yarinkura Djirrk/Malga (string bag) 1985–1990 cocky apple tree fibre string, 79 x 51 cm irreg. Museum of Contemporary Art and Maningrida Arts & Culture with financial assistance from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board of the Australia Council, 1994 Image courtesy and © the artist / Licensed by Copyright Agency Camp dog 2002–2003 ochre pigments on twined pandanus (pandanus spiralis), 34 x 172 x 34 cm. Museum of Contemporary Art and Maningrida Arts and Culture, purchased 2003 Image courtesy and © the artist / Licensed by Copyright Agency MCA Continuing the past 7 About the artwork The djirrk or string bag is part of the oldest weaving tradition in Arnhem Land. These string bags are worn strapped to the body, designed for personal use and food collecting. The simple loop stitch is made to be flexible and move as the bag’s contents grow. Lena Yarinkura’s djirrk is ‘traditional’ in the sense that it continues a long- held practice, the subtle bands of colour are a more recent addition and set the work apart from contemporary weavers. Yarinkura learnt the techniques of string-bag weaving and pandanus basketry from her mother Lena Djamarrayku, and her classificatory mother Mary Karlbirra, wife of celebrated Burarra/ Gunnartpa artist England Banggala. Lena Yarinkura Djirrk/Malga (string bag) (detail) 1985–1990 cocky apple tree fibre string, 79 x 51 cm irreg. Museum of Contemporary Art and Maningrida Arts & Culture with financial assistance from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board of the Australia Council, 1994 Image courtesy and © the artist / Licensed by Copyright Agency MCA Continuing the past 8 Yarinkura originally learned string-bag weaving from her mother. However, she began to adapt these techniques and has since altered her artmaking process to continue long-held practices in new ways, such as in Camp dog. How has a skill you have learned changed since you were taught it? • •Consider Consider factors form, materials,such as colour, techniques form, technique and subject and matter. materials. A change in any of these can be an innovation to the practice. • How do you think Lena Yarinkura has evolved her pratice? • Did you change the practice yourself? Or did someone show you a different way to do it? DISCUSSION IDEAS MCA Continuing the past 9 Matilda Nona Araw Warul 2016 linocut on paper, image 119 x 200.5 cm, sheet 124.5 x 220 cm, frame 134 x 229 x 75 cm Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the MCA Foundation, 2017 Image courtesy and © the artist MCA Continuing the past 10 About the artwork Araw Warul depicts the time of the turtle-hunting season on Badu Island in the Torres Strait, when Badu Islanders catch green turtles as a traditional food source. In an intricate design of overlapping spirals, Matilda Nona shows the turtles swimming against the strong tides during Sageraw Thonar, the dry season that runs from May to December. During these months, the turtles float closer into the seagrass reefs of the island and become easier to hunt. The turtles that inhabit the coastal waters help sustain the livelihoods and cultural and spiritual beliefs of Torres Strait Islanders. Knowledge of turtles’ cycles of mating and breeding, and of the best time to hunt them, is handed down through dance and song. In more recent times knowledge has been passed through printmaking Matilda Nona in linocuts and etchings. The distinctive patterning and Araw Warul (detail) 2016 line work that Nona employs draws on the traditional linocut on paper, image 119 x 200.5 cm, sheet 124.5 x 220 cm, frame 134 x 229 x 75 cm Melanesian carving practices of the Torres Strait, in Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the MCA which masks, drums and utensils were decorated for Foundation, 2017 Image courtesy and © the artist ceremonial and everyday purposes. MCA Continuing the past 11 Nona’s work transmits knowledge of the climate, the ecosystem and hunting practices. While this knowledge was traditionally passed on through dance and song, Nona uses carvings, linocuts and printmaking. Have you ever passed on information to someone in a different way than the way in which you were told? • How many different ways of passing on information or knowledge can you think of? Try some out with friends – is the interpretation of the information the same with every method? • Can you think of any examples of storytelling where a story you knew was interepreted in a new way? What was your reaction to this re- telling? DISCUSSION IDEAS MCA Continuing the past 12 Yarinkura makes functional objects (for example, Djirrk/Malga) and sculptural figures (for example, Camp dog) by using traditional techniques in innovative ways. Why do you think it is important to develop different methods of passing on knowledge, skills and techniques? DIG DEEPER MCA Continuing the past 13 Extend your learning – find more class kits, activities and information here! THANK YOU! mca.com.au/learn/learning-resources.