River of Stars
7 Sep
BUKU-LARRNGGAY MULKA CENTRE
SALON PROJECT SPACE
1/3 Vickers Street
Parap
OPENING HOURS
Tues to Fri 10 am – 5 pm
Sat 10 am – 2 pm
A lot of effort has been invested in recent times in defining the differences between people. Strident assertions of division. Frantic attempts to exclude others from a specific identity. Dog whistling, name calling, a focus on religious difference, skin colour, dress codes, place of birth, language and customs. A frenzy of insecurity around who can, and should be allowed, to claim belonging to the rich nation states.
This is normal and human. It is natural for groups of humans to prize and value the things that capture their perceived group identity. This instinct is at the heart of culture and accordingly cultural difference. In the Yolŋu world immense energy has always been devoted to delineating the exact identity of every element of the Universe and its connections to one’s self or group. As every single thing in the world has a deep essence which correlates to a clan or group of clans this identity politics is the main game in town.
But the sense that everything is thus related militates against the use of these differences to exclude. Whomever is reading this is related to me genetically. Whether they like it or not. And I certainly can’t blame anyone who is underwhelmed at that notion. You cant chose your family.
Yolŋu feel the reality of this absurdity to the bone. They know that everyone is family because their culture demands it. They are resigned to being related to me. There is no other possible alternative. But this isn’t a bit of tribal mumbo jumbo. Or if it is our tribe has the self same mumbo jumbo. Except ours is good mumbo jumbo because we call it science.
The MRCA (most recent common ancestor) to all humans is estimated to have lived about 5000 years ago or as recently as 300 BCE. So whilst Yolŋu will argue and debate the minutiae of esoteric Rom (law) about the sacred essence of a particular valley or yam they would never use it to take the next step and deny another’s humanity or equality because it would be impossible to suggest that a family member was a lesser being.
Naminapu has spent her entire life as an artist working within the portfolio of the songs, essences and designs of her patrilineal clan, the Maŋgalili of the Yirritja moiety.
In the past/present/future the Guwak ancestral beings led the Mangalili people to their new home at Djarrakpi (Cape Shield). Having seen the people settled, the Guwak men (Koel Cuckoo brothers) sang their own journey, paddling out to sea along the Milŋiyawuy River where they were drowned by a huge tidal wave, to a place in the sky where they become stars which would shine out of the night sky. This River of Stars is the astral version of the Milŋiyawuy River and known in English as the Milky Way. From here the eternal spirit will one day return to the earthly dimension in a fresh body. It will gush forth from this water all soggy and sodden. It will slowly dry out and become corporeal like us. It will grow up and then grow once more into its spiritual form in the river of stars to return again for ever more ad infinitum.
As a multi-awarded artist she stands beside her siblings Baluka and Galuma Maymuru and their fathers Narritjin and Nanyin Maymuru as one of Australia’s first families of art.
This Maŋgalili portfolio is as infinite as the universe so her discipline is not a limitation. And her insistence on this canon is not an act of denial to those of us who do not share that identity. It is the opposite.
Because whilst it is natural and healthy to assert the sacred identity of the Maŋgalili or any other distinct cultural group there is another side to that coin. We are all, inescapably and irrevocably human. And any effort to explain, understand, interpret or manifest reality will inevitably be bounded by a simple fact. The parameters of humanity are universal. We live, we die, we love, we struggle, we survive, we grieve, we eat, we fight. No matter who we are or what philosophy we use to underpin those activities. And it is through this that we can glory in our different sameness. These paintings and ideas are for all of us. They share this with all good art. They reach for the shape of the universe. The questions they answer are the same ones that we face. And we all look up on the same stars and always have and always will.
– WILL STUBBS, Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FIONA MORRISON
IMAGE: Naminapu Maymuru-White, Milngiyawuy 2019, ochre and fixative on bark, 121 x 53 cm, 2158-19
