Internationally acclaimed Martumili artists from WA East Pilbara have lit up the Sydney Opera House as part of the Vivid Sydney Festival.
Key points:
- Martumili’s artwork illuminates the Sydney Opera House in one of Vivid Sydney’s “most outstanding commissions in history”
- ‘Yarrkalpa – Hunting Ground’ was hosted by Curiious and accompanied by an Electric Fields soundtrack
- The original artwork is on display in Berlin as part of the Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters exhibition
Yarrkalpa – Hunting Ground represents the area around Parnngurr, a remote community on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, and shows seasons, combustion practices and growth cycles, hunting, land management and resources. Naturals.
Manyjilyjarra’s wife, Ngarga Thelma Judson, was born in the Great Sandy Desert in the mid-1950s and lived as a nomad with her family in the area of the Yimiri and Kurturarra springs.
This was not until 1964 when the family was tracked down before government military weapons tests in the area and moved to Jigalong.
Manyjilyjarra Ngarga’s wife Thelma Judson is one of Martumilli’s artists who painted Yarrkalpa – Hunting Ground. (Supplied by: Martumili Arts)
Mrs. Judson and her family have been living in Parnngurr since the 1980s, when they moved there during the return movement.
She is one of Martumili’s artists who painted Yarrkalpa in 2013.
“Great crowd … me, my sister, Rina, all in Parnngurr. It took us two and a half weeks.
“We make a picture of where the old men have been walking for a long time. When they are in the desert, you know.
“They go hunting and light a big fire and look around. Sometimes they kill a dingo. It’s been a long time, but not now, we’re in town.”
She said she was happy with how that painting looked at the Opera.
“It’s good,” said Mrs. Judson.
“It’s coming out in good color. All the color is coming out, all the trees.”
Yarrkalpa – Hunting Ground represents the area around Parnngurr. (Supplied)
Martumili Arts is based in Parnpajinya, or Newman, but also has artists living in the Great Sandy, Little Sandy and Gibson deserts, as well as in the Karlamilyi area.
Many of these artists live in the remote communities of Jigalong, Punmu, Kunawarritji, Irrungadji, Warralong and Parnngurr.
Another of the eight Martumili artists who painted Yarrkulpa was Ngalanka Nola Taylor. He was born in Wirrinyalkujarra, northeast of Punmu, and now lives in Parnngurr.
He said Yarrkalpa was a map of his ngurra or country of origin.
“It’s about telling stories, what we were doing,” Ms. Taylor said.
“The hunting ground where we come from, the kapi [water]yinta [permanent spring]nyurnma [burnt country]. Everyone made small pieces, places where we come from. “
The animation and visualization of Yarrkalpa through the candles of the Opera have been done by Curiious creative technologists.
It is accompanied by a soundtrack by the electronic music duo Electric Fields, formed by Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross.
The music combined the voices of Martu artists and Antara singers from the Anangu community in Feilding.
Sydney Opera’s head of contemporary music and curator of Vivid LIVE, Ben Marshall, said it was one of Vivid’s “most outstanding commissions”.
“This bold work of art will hit the candles of the Sydney Opera House, encouraging and sharing new perspectives on ancestral practices and knowledge of the country,” he said.
Yarrkalpa – Hunting Ground is on display in Berlin as part of the Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters exhibition.
The Songlines exhibition will be on view in Paris next year.