JOHN
MAWURNDJUL
I AM THE OLD
AND THE NEW
NGAYI NGAKARRME
BOKENH —
MANKERRNGE
LA MANKARE

John Mawurndjul AM is celebrated for his mastery of rarrk (fine-painted cross-hatching), a tradition shared by generations of Kuninjku artists. This exhibition of bark paintings and sculptures by one of Australia’s most groundbreaking contemporary artists tells the stories of Kuninjku culture and the significant locations surrounding Mawurndjul’s home in western Arnhem Land.

John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new was developed and co-presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and the Art Gallery of South Australia, in association with Maningrida Arts and Culture. It was displayed at the MCA from 6 July – 23 September 2018 and at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) from 26 October 2018 – 28 January 2019, as a part of Tarnanthi 2019.

The touring exhibition was a smaller version of the large-scale retrospective shown at the MCA and AGSA in 2018/2019 and was presented at eight locations across Australia from 2019–2021.

Learn more about the venues

MCA Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia

Developed and co-presented by the MCA and the Art Gallery of South Australia, in association with Maningrida Arts and Culture.

Australian Government's Visions of Australia logo

Touring exhibition organised by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program.

The old ways of doing things have changed into the new ways. The new generation does things differently. But me, I have two ways. I am the old and the new.

– John Mawurndjul

About the exhibition

John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new reunites works of art from national and international collections made across a 40-year period. John Mawurndjul AM (born 1952, Kubukkan near Marrkolidjban, western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia) has led the development of this exhibition, which describes in Kuninjku (and English) his places of special cultural significance known as kunred, as well as the sacred places and spirits – or Djang – that resurface time and time again in his art-making. We also encounter the animals and spirit beings that populate these locations including female water spirits (yawkyawk), rainbow serpents (ngalyod) and mischievous mimih spirits.

The places around western Arnhem Land that recur in his work include spring-fed creeks such as Milmilngkan, sandstone escarpments including Ngandarrayo and the white clay quarries of the seasonal creek called Kudjarnngal. The materials used by Mawurndjul to make his art come from these places – the stringy bark eucalypt skins that form the body of his bark paintings; the white clay, yellow and red ochres mined from sacred deposits that become paint; and the manyilk, the paint brush sedge that makes the single-strand brushes that the artist uses to make cross-hatching or rarrk.

The Mardayin ceremony, comprising rituals of a sacred nature, and informing so much of Mawurndjul’s work, remains a timeless narrative thread that links the past to the present, and sheds light on Kuninjku future – embracing the old and the new.

Curators: Clothilde Bullen, Natasha Bullock, Nici Cumpston and Dr Lisa Slade with Keith Munro as Lead Cultural Advisor; in close collaboration with John Mawurndjul AM, Kay Lindjuwanga, Ananais Jawulba and Maningrida Arts & Culture staff Michelle Culpitt, Zebedee Bonson, Derek Carter and interpreter/translator Dr Murray Garde.

A stacked pile of John Mawurndjul catalogues

Exhibition catalogue

The richly illustrated 400-page book contains a comprehensive overview of John Mawurndjul’s practice by Hetti Perkins, one of Australia’s great scholars of Aboriginal art; a detailed and illustrated biographical history by writer Genevieve O’Callaghan; an interview between the artist and linguist Dr Murray Garde; and other essays. Designed and developed by the MCA Design Studio in collaboration with the artist, the book mirrors the structure of the exhibition with over 160 full-colour image plates grouped by place, along with rarely seen images of the artist. John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new celebrates language and is punctuated with the artist’s words in Kuninjku, translated into English.

Soft cover version available from touring venues while stocks last.

Warning

Members of Aboriginal communities are respectfully advised that a number of people mentioned in writing or depicted in photographs on this website have passed away. All such mentions and photographs are with permission.

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