Gloreen Campion, Ngarrbek (Echidna) Sculpture, 50cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Gloreen Campion
• Community - Maningrida
• Homeland - Malnyangarnak
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Maningrida Arts and Culture
• Catalogue number - 743-22
• Materials - Pandanus (Pandanus Spiralis) with Ochre Pigment and PVA Fixative
• Size(cm) - H20 W50 D19
• Display - Freestanding, spines and legs are removable

It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings in Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment. Eastern Kunwinjku art is well known for its relationship to rock art in the Mann River region. A number of rock art sites in this region depict images of echidnas. One local Mann River mythology tells of the rock spirits called Mimih who keep a pet echidna which can take on the form of a dog called Djamuwanki Thus the painting of animals such as this echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), ngarrbek in Kunwinjku language, represents the animal as a food source, a personal totem and a reference to popular mythology

Gloreen Campion is a Rembarrnga artist from Malnyangarnak outstation, about a two and half hour drive from Maningrida township. She predominately resides at Ankabadbirri outstation with her husband Hedley Brain.

She is the daughter of acclaimed artist Wally Lipuwanga and is know for her 3D woven fibre art depicting yok (bandicoot), djamo (dogs) and galawan (goanna). She has previously worked at the women’s centre at Buluhkaduru Outstation.

An art movement that is striking, political and enduring: this is what contemporary artists in Maningrida and the surrounding homelands have built, powered by their ancestral connections to country and djang.

Ways of learning and schools of art in Arnhem Land are based around a system of passing knowledge and information on to others. The art here has its genesis in body design, rock art and cultural practices, in concert with more than 50 years of collaborations, travel and political action to retain ownership of country. Values and law are expressed through language, imagery, manikay (song), bunggul (dance), doloppo bim (bark painting), sculptures, and kun-madj (weaving) – the arts.

The artists’ transformation of djang into contemporary artistic expression has intrigued people around the world: art curators and collectors, and stars including Yoko Ono, Jane Campion, David Attenborough and Elton John. Pablo Picasso said of Yirawala’s paintings, ‘This is what I’ve been trying to achieve all my life.’

Yirawala (c.1897–1976) was a legendary Kuninjku leader, artist, land-rights activist and teacher, and his artwork was the first of any Indigenous artist to be collected by the National Gallery of Australia as part of a policy to represent in depth the most significant figures in Australian art.

Maningrida Arts & Culture is based on Kunibídji country in Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory. The area where artists live encompasses 7,000 square kilometres of land and sea, and over 100 clan estates, where people speak more than 12 distinct languages. Aboriginal people in this region are still on country, surviving and resilient because their country is the centre of their epistemology, their belief system, culture – djang.

Artists’ works from the larger Maningrida region can be seen in collections and institutions around the world. We work with museums, contemporary galleries and high-end retailers both nationally and internationally on projects throughout the year.

Text courtesy: Maningrida Arts and Culture