Two masters of Maningrida Arts : Ivan Namirrkki + Jack Nawilil

In partnership with Maningrida Arts 

 Ancient meets contemporary in new barks and spirit poles by two of Central Arnhem Land’s most senior artists – Ivan Namirrkki and Jack Nawilil from the coastal community of Maningrida.

Jack Nawilil was born in 1945 and is a revered law and song man whose unique fibre sculptures made of kurrajong bark with ochre pigment, natural fibres, bush wax and feathers, won him the  prestigious 3D Award in the 2012 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.

Sixty-three-year-old Ivan Namirrkki is the son of one of Maningrida’s most well-known founding artists Peter Marralwanga (1917–1987). Namirrkki was taught to paint by his father – a renowned bark painter and political proponent of the maintenance of his country and culture.

 Both Namirrkki and Nawilil have had decades-long, illustrious art careers with their work exhibited in leading galleries Australia-wide and internationally, featured in award exhibitions and acquired by many of Australia’s state and national public galleries and leading private collectors worldwide. 

Having painted in a more abstract linear style for many years, Ivan Namirrkki’s new works revisit

the style that first made his work famous – fluid figurative images etched in fine line against a velvety black ground . His classic subjects feature Ngalyod – the Rainbow Serpent, the Crocodile, the Kangaroo, Profane figures and numerous interpretations of Mimih Spirits. 

Nawilil’s extraordinary multimedia spirit poles are his own creation. However, the stories they represent are both ancient and complex – referencing multiple places, clans and events that span vast distances and timeframes. Most of Nawilil’s works in the exhibition feature the story ofthe shooting star/comet called Namorroddo – believed by Central Arnhem Land people to be a manifestation of a spirit figure which can attack Aboriginal people and is overcome only by the powers of a very senior medicine man. 

The impact of these works is remarkable. With Namirrkki’s fine-lined, velvety black barks relating powerful creation stories, and Nawilil’s unique poles of paperbark wrapped in lengths of meticulously woven, feather-decorated bush string, their spiritual presence is almost palpable.