Yes, when the Rainbow Serpent was there, like a Ngalyod or a crocodile. That can be djang. But we have a responsibility to protect those places, as people can damage them when they go there.

– John Mawurndjul

Talking points

• John Mawurndjul’s practice is defined by the kunred (home or place) he is connected to.
  
• Places are defined by the stories, histories and events that take place on them.
  
• The significance of materials collected from place.

The curatorial rationale and experience of the exhibition John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new was informed and determined by the locations that John Mawurndjul continually represents and depicts. The landscapes he paints are rendered with natural ochre pigments, white clay and charcoal sourced on homelands. His personal and ancestral knowledge enables him to visually recount events, narratives and places with encyclopedic detail, while at the same time translating the immense resonant power held in the significant sites.

Warm-up

What places are important to you? And what made that place become important to you? Consider how many times you visit it and what is special or unique about this place.

Discussion

John Mawurndjul represents locations such as Milmilngkan and Kudjarnngal and the stories associated with them. Think of a place that is significant to your community. How is the significance of this place recorded and recognised?

Activity 1 – Sites of significance

Consider the possible ways to record histories that have taken place on a site, for example, erecting memorials, plaques or renaming places. Consider a local site within your community and what has happened on that site. Design an acknowledgment of that history which brings people together from different community groups. What is the importance of recalling the past in the present? How does art facilitate collective memory?

Activity 2 – Materials and place

John Mawurndjul collects materials from specific sites and sources across his country. He uses Stringybark, charcoal, red and yellow ochres and white clay collected from significant sites. Do you have a collection of objects? What do they remind you of? Where have they come from? Collect a series of materials that tells the story of a place. Create a composition that uses these objects and articulates your thoughts and memories about the site.

Early learning provocation

John Mawurndjul uses materials he collects from his Country. Bring in a collection of different materials from a place that you know well – it might be your favourite beach or your grandparents’ garden. Spend a moment using these objects to create patterns. What can this pattern tell you about the place your materials came from?