Exhibition a rare chance to see Institute’s artworks and objects

 

8 November 2012

For only the second time in fifty years, objects and artworks from the vast archive of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) will be exhibited to the general public.

Seventy objects and artworks - some collected by AIATSIS researchers, anthropologists, linguists, musicologists and archaeologists from the early 1960s - feature in a new exhibition; Likan’mirri ll: Indigenous art from the AIATSIS Collection which opens at Canberra’s Drill Hall Gallery tonight.

Likan’mirri ll features a diverse range of works from many regions including Hermannsburg, the Central and Far Western deserts, Arnhem Land, the Kimberley, the Tiwi Islands and metropolitan and rural Australia. They include 19th century sketches, children’s drawings, bark paintings, sculptures and glassware.

Some of the items have never been on public display before.

AIATSIS Principal, Russell Taylor says that while the exhibition offers a unique opportunity for the general public to see a rare and beautiful collection filled with cultural and historical significance, Likan’mirri ll is also a material representation of the work of the Institute over the last five decades.

“Likan’mirri ll represents only a slice of the AIATSIS Collection - a vast collection of art, artefacts, film, photographs and literature that is world renown in quality, diversity and representation.”

“However, the objects themselves are part of the evidence of the programs and policies undertaken by an Institute of Research over the last 50 years.”

“They represent the attitude and philosophy adopted by AIATSIS from its inception, that of making connections - a relationship between the Institution, its researchers, between communities, peoples, families and individuals,” he said.

Among the many notable works on display are three colour pencil and watercolours by the famed 19th Century Aboriginal artist, Mickey of Ulladulla.

They are part of ten works AIATSIS obtained in the 1970s. Previously the watercolours had been held by the descendants of a light house keeper at Ulladulla (NSW), whose wife, Mary Anne Gambell had encouraged Mickey’s artistic talents.


The AIATSIS ‘Mickey of Ulladulla’ works are valued close to $3.8million dollars, with only thirty drawings known to be in existence in public and private collections.

A more recent acquisition to the AIATSIS Collection which is featured in the exhibition is a 6ft high painting by Wadeye (NT) artist Simon Nganbe, titled Kanamkek Kimul (The Legend of Kumangoor).

Painted on particle board in 1960, the artwork was presented by the Aboriginal community of Wadeye to the former Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck, in his role as the Minister for Territories in Menzies Government.

The painting, which shows the creation story of the Rainbow Serpent, was donated to AIATSIS in 2010 by Miss Ellestan Dusting - the former Personal Secretary to Sir Paul Hasluck - on behalf of the Hasluck Estate.

The artwork and other Aboriginal artifacts and photographs had been unearthed in the Canberra garage of Miss Dusting.

To commemorate the painting’s inclusion in the exhibition, Tobias Nganbe, Simon’s brother and two other spokespeople have travelled from Wadeye to Canberra to attend tonight’s official opening.

Curated by Wally Caruana, Likan’mirri ll features both contemporary and historical works under the major theme of exploring connections between the past and the present.

Likan’mirri is a Yolgnu (eastern Arnhem Land) term that embodies a range of meanings around the concept of connectedness. Literally likan signifies the ‘elbow’ or ‘the fork in a tree’, yet it is used more deeply to evoke the spiritual connections between clan designs paintings, and the links between the secular and sacred worlds.

The exhibition will be officially opened by Russell Taylor, Principal, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, on Thursday 8 November at the Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra at 6pm. The exhibition will run to 16 December.

The exhibition is presented by the ANU National Centre for Indigenous Studies in association with the Drill Hall Gallery and is a collaborative project of AIATSIS.