I Am the Old and the New
BARK PAINTING IS among the most recognisable Aboriginal art, but you mightn’t know that it was only popularised in the 1930s. Until then, the familiar imagery was used as body paint and in caves. Occasionally the patterns were painted onto bark as a record of the designs, but it’s only relatively recently that the bark has been considered its own canvas. One of the greatest exponents of bark painting – and one of the greatest exponents of Aboriginal art in general – is John Mawurndjul, who rose to international fame in the late 1980s and ’90s. The Kuninjku artist, based in Arnhem Land, is getting a major career retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, made up of 165 works. They’ll take over the third level of the MCA this winter, the same space where English artist and provocateur Grayson Perry presented a blockbuster show in 2015. At the time, Perry sparked debate when he controversially said Aboriginal art should not be considered contemporary art. Clothilde Bullen, one of the curators behind Mawurndjul’s exhibition and a Wardandi (Nyoongar) Aboriginal woman, strongly disagrees. “I think all Aboriginal art being made here and now is contemporary, and I’d absolutely stand by that,” she says. “But it’s OK that [Perr y] is given the opportunity to say those things at the MCA, and we have this kind of rebuttal.” Not only is Mawurndjul one of the major pioneers of the bark medium, he has evolved and pushed traditional practices, like rarrk, which refers to a close and meticulous crosshatching that creates an almost shimmering effect on the bark. And he has been deeply involved in shaping the narrative and layout of this exhibition, which explores elements of Kuninjku culture and then covers parts of his country in Central Arnhem Land. “In a sense, you’re working through country in the way you should – in the way John would want you to walk through,” Bullen says, adding that while his work is imbued with stories and images stretching back thousands of years, visitors shouldn’t be worried about interpreting the paintings incorrectly. “It’s actually OK – it’s an artwork and people will have different takes on it. I think people need to drop that fear.”