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Aboriginal Art from Central Arnhem Land
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Terry Ngamandara was born in a bush camp outside of Darwin. Shortly after his birth his family returned to their clan country near the Cadell River in Western Arnhem Land, close to the large swamp, Barlparnarra. Here, Terry Ngamandara became immersed in the religion and culture of his own people, the Girnimba and Garramirra, and was fully trained under traditional men’s law in the designs for totems. Barlparnarra is a complex of important sacred sites for the Jowanga moiety group through Central Arnhem land. It is associated with the creation myth of the two sisters commonly known as Djangkawu, however, in the Barlparnarra version they are called Murlurlu. Many Dreaming tracks of mythological beings associated with the two sisters converge at this site, and, ceremonies which celebrate their journeys are still held there. Terry is senior custodian of these clans. One of the key emblems of the artist’s clan is gulach - the spike rush that dominates the Barlparnarra swamp country. The emblem always appears as triangular motif. This spike rush also forms a food source for magpie geese, a key swamp animal and totem. The artists’ design is also used as body decoration during funeral ceremonies where it is painted on the body of deceased clan member just prior to burial. Before taking up bark painting, Ngamandara spent time in the nearby Aboriginal community of Maningrida, where he did construction and forestry work as well as laboring in fishing enterprises. This technical training assisted him when he later turned to art under the tutelage of the senior artist England Bangala. In the art of Central Arnhem Land new conventions are constantly evolving. This is borne out by Ngamandarra’s work as he creates landscapes of singular purity of form, using strong black lines to cut superimposed multiple plants, reduced to triangles and rectangles, which float in rhythms of ordered geometry. The rarrk (cross-hatching) is one directional and suggests flat grassy plains country near Gochan jiny-jirra where the artist lives. subjects and themes Spike rushes (gulach), goanna (gachalan), gudgeon fish (marlan), salmon catfish (jinaminyjingana), King brown snake. collections Artbank, Sydney. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Surfers Paradise, Queensland. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Qld. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth. Walonia Aboriginal Art, The Netherlands. exhibitions Individual exhibitions 1990 Gary Anderson Gallery, Sydney NSW 1996 Ngamandarra, Abstraction: Signs, Marks, Symbols National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Vic. 1996 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW. 2000 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney NSW. Group exhibitions 1987 Esplanade Gallery, Darwin. 1988 Gochan Jiny-jirra artists, MOCA, Brisbane. 1989 The Sixth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin. 1990 Spirit in Land, Bark Paintings from Arnhem Land, National Gallery of Victoria. 1991 The Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin. 1991 Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia. 1992 Crossroads-Towards a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia, National Museums of Modern Art, Kyoto and Tokyo. 1993 The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin. 1994 Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria. 1996 Maningrida Exhibition Raintree Fine Art Gallery, Darwin NT. 1996 The Language of Place Framed Gallery, Darwin NT. 1996 The 13th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin NT. 1997 Dreamings: Aboriginal Art from Australia The Netherlands. 1999 Bodypaint show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne Vic. 1999 Art and Place: Collecting Contemporary Art at Northern Territoy University, Northern Territory Unviersity, Darwin NT. 1999 Spirit Country: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Gantner Myer Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, USA. bibliography Aboriginal Arts Management Association, 1990, Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1990 - from Australia (presented by the Aboriginal Arts Committee, Australia Council and Third Eye Centre, Glasgow), exhib. cat., Redfern, New South Wales. (C) Isaacs J: Spirit Country ,Hardie Grant Books 1999. Ryan, J., 1990, Spirit in Land, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Wallace, D., Desmond, M., Caruana, W., 1991, Flash Pictures, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. |
 region Central Arnhem Land state NT community Maningrida born 1950 active 1989 language bloc Djerag outstation Gochan Jiny-jirra art centre Maningrida Arts & Culture medium Bark painting, ochres on bark, sculpture, hollow log coffin |
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