Art Gallery of South Australia & the South Australian Museum

I recently went to the Art Gallery of South Australia and the South Australian Museum and viewed some astonishing Indigenous art work. I remembered when I was at school coming and viewing Indigenous art work and it was great to come back and see more, to take in how much time, effort, the materials they use to make such beautiful pieces. 

These we're some of my favorite pictures I first saw. picture 1: Attributed to Mawalan Marika. Australia, Yolngu people, Northern Territory.
Gathering seagull eggs, 1948 Yirrkala, north-east Arnhem Land, Northern Terrirory. natural pigments on eucalyptus bark. Gift of Mr Charles P. Mountford 1959.


Picture 2: (left) Bara (the north-west wind) 1948, Umbakumba, Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory. Natural pigments on eucalyptus bank.
(right) Mangganglna Wurramara, Australia, Anindilyakwa people, Northern Territory. Groote Eylandt 1919-1984. 
Inikaraka (kestreis) 1948, Umbakumba. Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark. Gift of the Commonwealth Government 1957. 


Picture 3: Yallowa
Australia, Anindilyakwa people, Northern Territory.
Imeraka (sea turtles), 1948, Umbakumba, Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory. Natural ochres on eucalyptus bark. Gift of the Commonwealth Government 1957.  


Picture 4: attributed to Munggerawuy Yunuoingu
Australia, Yolngu people, Northern Territory.
Totemic creatures of Yalangbara (Port Bradshaw) 1948, Yirrkala, North-east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Natural pigments of eucalyptus bark.


Loved how they were painted on eucalyptus bark.

Found this very interesting, since I love crosses.


Yhonnie Scarce
Australia, Kokatha and Nukunu peoples,
South Australia 
born Woomera, South Australia 1973.
This was made in 2007, glass and cord.
A descendant of the Kokatha people from the Lake Eyre region and the Nukunu from around Port Lincon, majored in glass making at the South Australian school of Art. She uses the unlikely medium of glass to explore the treatment of Aboriginal Australians in both historic and contemporary contexts. 
What they wanted is a confronting and colemn work of art. Fifteen handblown glass figures, each hung by a white cord, and installed to form a cross. The hanging figures make a visual reference to the recurring tragedy of black deaths in custody, while the cross could be read as both eulogy to the unnecessary deaths in custody and, perhaps more ominously, to the role of the church in our colonial history. 
By placing this contemporary work of art in the company of colonial paintings and sculptures, including those that represent Aboriginal people, both the suffering and the survival of Aboriginal Australians in underscored. 


Referenced: Images taken at the Art Gallery of South Australia.