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Australian Aboriginal artists Ishmael and Mayatili Marika will stop by WTJU this Wednesday during the first hour of Beyond Borders to discuss the MADAYIN: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. exhibition at Kluge-Ruhe Museum. The exhibition is the result of eight years collaboration between Kluge-Ruhe and Yolngu artist and knowledge holders from Yirrkala in north eastern Australia. They will be joined by Henry Skerritt, Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Curator of Indigenous Arts of Australia at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.

Ishmael Marika is a director, editor, and production officer at The Mulka Project in Yirrkala. He has worked on numerous cultural productions for the Yolngu including documentations of dhapi, bapurru, and other ceremonial events. He is best known for his documentary on Yolngu land rights entitled Wanga Watangumirri Dharuk (2010), which has screened at many festivals as well as a private screening with the East Timor former President Ramos Horta. His second film, Galka (2014), a drama depicting Yolŋu sorcery, was launched to standing ovations at Garma 2014. Other films include Gapu Ga Gunda: The Art of Nongirrngga Marawili (2015).

In 2016, Ishmael was awarded the NATSIA Youth Award, and the NIMA Traditional Music Award. He is currently working on a historical documentary about the old Yirrkala Hospital.

Mayatili Marika is a Yolŋu woman of the Rirratjiŋu clan. She is the University of Melbourne’s Cultural Advisor and Partnerships Officer based in Northeast Arnhem Land and Chair of Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation, which develops and implements culturally and environmentally appropriate resource management strategies around Nhulunbuy. She is an enthusiastic advocate for Yolŋu education. 

Tags: Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting, Beyond Borders, Henry Skerritt, Ishmael Marika, Kluge Ruhe Museum, MADAYIN, Mayatili Marika, University of Virginia, WTKI