Bark and video artwork spans the ages
Saturday, August 16th, 2008Nicolas Rothwell; 16/8/08
A hybrid artwork combining indigenous-made video and Australia’s oldest painting tradition was the star turn at last night’s 25th annual Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, breaking boundaries and winning hearts.Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, a 63-year-old hearing-impaired tent-dweller in remote northeast Arnhem Land painted her flowing, dramatic Incident at Mutpi (1975) on bark, in memory of the moment when a wild buffalo caught her unawares and gored her repeatedly, almost killing her. A video of the artist retelling this episode, with traditional song soundtrack and illustrating scenes of narrative, hangs just beneath the bark on the exhibition wall at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory - and two distant worlds are bridged.
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