Betty Pumani & Robert Fielding at A.P. Bond Contemporary & Aboriginal Art Gallery

Art Work by Betty Pumani

Saturday 20 August

Today I went and saw another SALA exhibition at A.P. Bond Contemporary & Aboriginal Art Gallery showing works by Betty Pumani & Robert Fielding. Both of the artists paint at the same remote South Australia community art centre (Mimili Maku Arts) at Mimili. Mimili is situated in the APY lands in the far north of South Australia.

Both Pumani and Fielding have their own distinct styles of painting, yet when on display together there is a vast contrast between the two.

Pumani tells her stories with vibrant reds, purples, oranges and yellows and also in muted tones. For me looking at her pieces they are almost like a blanket or pieces of different fabric sewn together. Her pieces are highly detailed, however her paintings didn’t capture me the same way as Fielding.

The moment I saw Robert Fielding’s work I was struck with curiosity as I had never seen this interpretation of Aboriginal art before. A couple of his pieces had an amazing contemporary feel too them with big circles and use of purples and oranges. Crosses freatured on his work as well in brown and blues. I was curious as to what he was painting about.

Fielding also had two large dot paintings amongst this collection which almost had a mist like quality to them. This suttle colour haze gently told his story.

My second gallery for the day, it has definitely been an interesting experience!

Indigenous Art at Saint Ignatius Art Show

Saturday 20 August

I was excited arriving at the Saint Ignatius Art Show as I had never previously been to an art show before let alone anything which had been involved in the SALA festival.

As I paid my donation for the catalogue I also paid my $5 into the Art Show Raffle for a Suzie Prince painting titled Kapi Piti Water Soakage. As I ventured into the Art Show it was not hard to find where the Indigenous paintings were hanging.



Featured works included Indigenous artists from the Iwantja Arts and Crafts and Ernabella Arts. A lot of the paintings used bright vibrant colours in blue, pinks, yellows, oranges and greens, even fluoro paint made an appearance. A contemporary fusion of colour with traditional dot paintings, I had never seen before. I must admit I am not a huge fan of these psychedelic colours being used within Indigenous art, for me it takes away from the meaning of the work, due to its distraction.

One piece by Julie Yatjitja from Iwantja Arts and Crafts titled Nagura (country) drew me in with its vibrant use of red, orange and yellow used throughout the painting. “I like using bright colours on canvas. You can see those colours on the land. Lots of flowers grow around here. And the land has many different colours.”



Featured Artists from Iwantja Arts and Crafts include: Alec Baker, Rosemary Baker, Mary Brumby, Maringka Burton, Nellie Coulthard, Molly Cullinan, Vicki Cullinan, Sandra Goodwin, Peter Mungkuri, Noreen Parker, Jeannie Reggie, Rosalind Tjanyari, Whiskey Tjukangku, Julie Yatjitja.



Ernabella Arts was represented by: Imiyari (Yilpi) Adamson, Mylika (Alison) Carroll, Niningka Lewis, Renita Stanley, Tjunkaya Tapaya.

Coen Mu...Bidagarral-La

(From Coen to the Barron River)

Monday 18 July 2011

During the mid semester break I went to Cairns on a holiday to visit my friend Bernard (Bernie) Singleton an emerging Indigenous artist. In anticipation of this Indigenous Art, Culture and Design subject I was excited to hear that Bernie’s first solo exhibition was on show at UMI Arts Shop and Exhibition Gallery.

Bernie’s exhibition titled ‘Coen Mu..Bidagarra-La’ (from Coen to the Barron River), included some of his more recent traditional and contemporary paintings, and artefacts. I had previously seen some of Bernie’s work in photo’s that he had emailed me, however I was just absolutely blow away with his work up close.

Bernie was born in Cairns, yet grew up in a small Aboriginal community of Coen, Cape York. His mother is a Djabuguy woman born in Mona Mona mission, while his father is an Umpila/Yirrkandji man from Yarrabah mission.

Bernie’s inspiration for his artwork comes from the memories and experiences of his childhood. He would always go fishing, hunting, visit cave paintings and sacred sites, or return artefacts and bones to their country. He learnt the ways of the bush, listening to stories, learning about the tradition, bush food and artefact making. This included watching his Graddad make Wagay (sword) at Oakforest, and also sit with his Mother’s people (Djabuguy) and watch them make rainforest-swords, shields, boomerangs, throwing sticks, spears, baskets and much more. Just by looking at his work, you can see why Bernie has such appreciation for his culture and the ways of his forefathers.

I was really drawn to the five creation stories that Bernie had painted, and from our many conversations about Indigenous Art over the years I was able to identify which painting related to its story. It was also really nice to be able to read about the stories in the exhibition whilst looking at Bernie’s traditional interpretation. These creation stories have given me a greater insight into understanding Indigenous Art and also its culture.

I was fortunate enough to be taken on a drive from Cairns for Port Douglas before viewing Bernie’s exhibition. The coastline on this drive is lined with black rocks and Bernie explained to me this creation story, Djirri Damarri-Ngu Bana Burraungany. The creation story is about the coastline of Cairns and surrounding areas when the flat coastal lands were being flooded. The sea grew big and the country was drowning. Damarri came through Cairns to the shoreline and he had many Bama working for him. He made lots of fires to cook the stones to make them very hot. When he placed the stones along the coastline in the seawater they burnt up the ground making the sea small and stopped the flood. Every beach going north has been put there by this man Damarri, as he made the beaches of Cairns.

After hearing this creation story I was able to identify the painting almost instantly. I now understand that the creation stories, or the Dreaming, is vital in understanding Aboriginal art. I also understand and appreciate how important this belief system is to Aboriginal people.
I was also drawn to the bark figures Dambul Gadja. Bernie used Acrylic to paint a figure of a man onto individual pieces of Black Wattle Bark. Above the figures head Bernie glued Cockatoo Feathers to create the look of a headdress. These bark figures were hung by fishing wire from the ceiling to the floor which allowed movement of the pieces when people walked past them. They looked like dancing men, a very effective idea.

Looking at Bernie's artwork at UMI Arts, Cairns