Midawarr | Harvest explored the plants of north-east Arnhem Land through artworks by Yolŋu elder Mrs Wirrpanda and landscape painter John Wolseley.
Midawarr | Harvest was on show at the National Museum of Australia from 17 November 2017 to 19 February 2018.
This video contains names and images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It was created by Mrs Wirrpanda's grandson, Ishmael Marika, and other members of the Mulka Project, a production company and digital archive at Yirrkala aiming to sustain and protect Yolŋu cultural knowledge. Footage of John Wolseley in his studio by Creative cowboy films
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About Midawarr
The National Museum of Australia's Midawarr exhibition featured more than 80 works and immersive multimedia experiences created by the Yolŋu community to give visitors insights into the special relationship between these two artists, and ancient Yolŋu knowledge of sustainable living.
Midawarr means ‘harvest’ in the Yolŋu matha (language). It is the season when rich plant life on Yolŋu country is ready to be collected and prepared.
About the artists
Mrs Wirrpanda and John Wolseley met every midawarr, and other times, in the five years before the exhibition. They researched and documented the many useful and delicious plants which, for centuries, have sustained communities in this unique part of the continent.
Mrs Wirrpanda and John's collaboration resulted in a body of artworks, including bark paintings, larrakitj (decorated memorial poles), printmaking and a monumental watercolour and mixed media painting.
Mrs Wirrpanda
Mrs Wirrpanda was a senior elder of the Dhudi-Djapu clan of the Dhuwa moiety. Her early life was spent with her family in the normal pursuits of living from the land and marking life’s process through ceremonial activity. She was an early pioneer of the Homeland Movement and has until recently spent all of her time in the remote homelands of Yilpara, Dhuruputjpi and Gängan. She made art since the 1980s and was a senior ceremonial authority. Her passion for the land and its law is being continued by her two daughters, Yalmakany and Gurrundul, who are both senior rangers, and her son, Borrak, who is a lawman. Mrs Wirrpanda died in 2021.
John Wolseley
John Wolseley was born in England in 1938 and arrived in Australia in 1976. His work in watercolour, drawing, printmaking and installation over the last 40 years has been a meditation on how the earth is a dynamic system of which we are all a part. He is represented in all state and national galleries and has received numerous grants, awards and prizes.
Acknowledgements
Midwarr | Harvest was supported by the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to the national collections for all Australians.
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This exhibition was also on show at:
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 3 August 2018 to 3 March 2019
- Melbourne Museum, Victoria, 4 April to 14 July 2019