PRIDE, RECOGNITION AND RESILIENCE – Vincent Namatjira, P.P.F (Past-Present-Future), 2021 CLASS KIT W mca.com.au/learn MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 2 ABOUT THE ARTIST Vincent Namatjira is a Western Aranda man from Ntaria (Hermannsburg, Northern Territory). Born in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in 1983, he lives in the community of Indulkana in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) region, South Australia. Namatjira is a painter whose works often depict himself, as well as national and international political figures and references to Australia’s colonial history. Namatjira works at Iwantja Arts, a not for profit, Aboriginal- owned and run corporation and art centre where studio artists work across a variety of mediums, such as printmaking and Vincent Namatjira with preparatory painting for 2021 Circular painting. Quay Foyer Wall Commission. Image courtesy and © Iwantja Arts. Photograph: Heath Aaron Class kit content This resource contains creative learning activities about some of the figures in Namatjira’s Circular Quay Foyer Wall Commission P.P.F (Past-Present-Future) (2021). They are organised in three themes: pride, recognition and resilience. The class kit also contains activities for learning about two MCA Collection artists, Ryan Presley and Megan Cope. MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 3 ABOUT THE CIRCULAR QUAY FOYER WALL COMMISSION The Circular Quay Foyer Wall Commission is an ongoing program of wall works commissioned for the Circular Quay foyer. The Museum of Contempoaray Art Australia (MCA) works with artists to realise new, temporary wall works that respond to the unique dimensions, location and history of this site. The foyer wall is 15-metres long and faces the harbour. It is visible from as far away as Circular Quay train station and is seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. Past works in this series have included paintings, printed fabric, and glued mirrored disks. Clothilde Bullen, the MCA’s Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections and Exhibitions, commissioned Vincent Namatjira to be part of this series in 2021. Clothilde Bullen is a Wardandi (Nyoongar) and Badimaya (Yamatji) woman with English/French heritage. Vincent Namatjira’s work was Vincent Namatjira P.P.F (Past-Present-Future) (detail) 2021 painted directly on the wall in February 2021. synthetic polymer paint commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2021, The Circular Quay Foyer Wall Commission is supported by Veolia. supported by Veolia Environmental Services. Image courtesy and © the artist MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 4 Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. Focus first on the loud, obvious sounds, then try to hear the quiet, subtle sounds. The MCA is located on the land and waters of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The site on which the MCA stands is known as Tallawoladah in Gadigal. In English it is known as The Rocks. Tallawoladah is where the First Fleet landed in 1788. It is therefore the location of colonial First Contact. • Imagine the land where you are as it was before there were any houses, cars or city skylines. What sounds would you hear? • Now think about this place far into the future. What sounds would you still like to hear? 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 Pride, recognition and resilience 5 Vincent Namatjira P.P.F (Past-Present-Future) 2021 synthetic polymer paint commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2021, supported by Veolia Environmental Services. Image courtesy and © the artist MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 6 PRIDE MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 7 In Vincent Namatjira’s mural, he paints himself holding the Aboriginal flag and pointing out to Warrang (Circular Quay), a place that always was, always is and always will be on Gadigal land. Flags can be powerful representations of people and places. They use colour, imagery and symbolism to represent histories, cultures and meanings. Work in small groups and design a flag using only three colours that represents your class. It can be any design that you want. • Think about the colour palette of your flag and what each colour could represent. • Think about what symbols or imagery you might choose to show on your flag. • After designing your flag, think of three words that express the meaning in your flag. WARM-UP MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 8 The Aboriginal Flag The Australian Aboriginal flag was designed by Harold Thomas, a Luritja man from Alice Springs, in 1970 and first flown in Adelaide on 12 July 1971. Its design and use was originally associated with the national land rights movements, however it has since been made an official ‘Flag of Australia’. The flag was flown at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972 in front of Parliament House in Canberra. This event is a key moment in Australian civil rights history, as it was part of wider protests about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island land rights. Recently, the reprinting of the Aboriginal flag has received national attention due to its misuse under copyright law. The flag’s design is currently licensed to a private clothing company. An Australian Senate inquiry is being undertaken to determine whether the federal government should purchase the license to Vincent Namatjira allow its reproduction by any party. P.P.F (Past-Present-Future) (detail) 2021 synthetic polymer paint commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2021, supported by Veolia Environmental Services. Image courtesy and © the artist MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 9 “ The Aboriginal flag for me represents pride, resilience and recognition. The Aboriginal flag symbolises who I am, and what I am proud of. For me to hold this flag on this big wall and for other Aboriginal and Torres Strait people to see it, they will feel like they are proud also. ”Vincent Namatjira, MCA, Sydney, 2019 MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 10 Namatjira discusses that for him, the Aboriginal flag symbolises pride, reslience and recognition. By including the flag in the mural, the artist hopes to share this pride with other Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. How does the flag that you designed make you feel? Who might share these feelings when looking at your flag? • How do the elements of your flag promote or symoblise these feelings? • Who might not share these same feelings when viewing your flag? • Look at the flags designed by other groups. What emotions do they bring up for you? Are they the same or different to your flag? • Does your flag make you feel pride? Why or why not? DISCUSSION MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 11 I wear a flag Forever in my blood, etched bleeding into my flesh I have it needle-stuck and inked “ I remember when you wept red; the pain Up in my skin Little more than an itch; My skin is a flag Wept, darker red than the scarlet of the ink Without the ink Not flagged enough. Without you, flag, my skin is slick, too pale People might not know who I am I say to them, ‘this flag is my identity’ Red, yellow, black I say to them, ‘this ink forever’. My skin forever, flag. I say to them, ‘I will die before I lay down my flag’. The yellow, the sun, is fading The red, the ground, the black, I Claire G. Coleman, Forever, Flag, 2020 Still strong, the bloodlines. Someone once said, ‘wow, that’s committed’. Someone once said, ‘you could pass as white’. A blackfella once said, ‘welcome to my Country sister’ He saw my blackfella flag first He saw my Noongar face after. LISTEN MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 12 Forever, Flag, 2020 by Claire G. Coleman Claire G. Coleman is a Noongar poet, art writer, essayist and author. Her family is from the south west coast of Western Australia. Coleman now lives and works in Naarm (Melbourne). Coleman’s poems have been published in the Australian Poetry Journal and by Red Room Poetry. Her first novel Terra Nullius won the 2018 Norma K Hemming Award for excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class or disability in speculative fiction. The book was written on the road during Coleman’s extensive travels across the country in a caravan. In addition, she has been a speaker at many writers festivals and interviewed on ABC Radio National and a guest on podcasts such as It’s Not a Race and Claire G. Coleman, photo by Jen Dainer, Queerstories. She is also a consultant for the cultural Industrial Arc advisory committee for not-for-profit Aboriginal Arts consultancy Agency. MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 13 Both Namatjira and Coleman feature the Aboriginal flag in their works P.P.F (Past-Present-Future) and Forever, Flag. How have Namatjira and Coleman shown their pride for the Aboriginal flag in their works? • What visual or written language have they used to convey this pride? • Think about the context surrounding the Aboriginal flag in each of the works. Where and how are they presented? • How and when can a flag create pride? Think about what flags you associate with and where you see them. Who else might share this pride? • Look back at the your flag designs. Imagine in 20 years’ time you see your fellow classmates. How might you and your classmates feel about DIG DEEPER the flags you designed back then? MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 14 RECOGNITION MCA Pride, recognition and resilience 15 Namatjira has painted a figure of an Aboriginal stockman in his mural to represent the contributions of stockmen and highlight their underrepresentation in mainstream Australian history.