Warlpiri Drawings, stories of resilience and change

A three year collaborative and Australian Research Council funded project was respectfully acknowledged today as Dr Melinda Hinkson proudly launched her book Remembering the Future: Warlpiri Life Through the Prism of Drawing and exhibition at the National Museum of Australia.

Stories of resilience, exile and humour feature in the new National Museum of Australia exhibition, in which over 100 vibrant crayon drawings trace a turbulent period of social change for the Warlpiri people of central Australia.

The exhibition Warlpiri Drawings: Remembering the Future offers insights into the Warlpiri experience across an 80-year period, dating from the 1930s to the present. The exhibition includes drawings of country and early settlement architecture, as well as photographs and National Museum objects. A book, Remembering the Future: Warlpiri Life Through the Prism of Drawing, published by Aboriginal Studies Press, will accompany the exhibition.

The exhibition includes early works by internationally recognised artists including Abe Jangala and Larry Jungarrayi Spencer. 

Warlpiri people are the traditional owners of the vast Tanami Desert, north-west of Alice Springs. From the 1940s they were moved onto a series of government settlements, with more than 100 people being placed in 1952 on Gurindji land at Hooker Creek, in the Northern Territory. The drawings on paper trace the social and cultural dislocation of the Warlpiri people.

“The exhibition and book explore the diverse ways in which the Warlpiri people have viewed this turbulent period of change, reflecting their sense of exile and loss – but also their prevailing optimism, openness and humour,” said National Museum Guest Curator, Dr Melinda Hinkson.

Dr Hinkson said that, “ultimately this is a story of resilience which is both a distinctly Warlpiri tale and also an experience that resonates deeply across Australia.”

The exhibition draws upon collections gathered by anthropologist Mervyn Meggitt between 1953 and 1954, and Olive Pink in 1933 and 1934. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) holds the majority of the drawings, which are also reproduced in the book.

The exhibition is the result of close collaboration with the Warlpiri people and the Warlukurlangu and Warnayaka art centres. Warlpiri Drawings runs from 14 August 2014, to 31 May 2015 and the book is available from the Museum Shop at the NMA.

If you are an NMA member, you can be treated to an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Walpiri Drawings exhibition by curator Melinda Hinkson, on Thursday 21 August 10am-12pm. Bookings are essential by emailing bookings@nma.gov.au

Melinda will be delivering the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences 2nd Annual Future Directions in Indigenous Research public lecture on Wednesday 15 October at 5pm, at the National Museum of Australia. Please register your attendance.

Melinda is pictured above (centre) with Tess Napalijarri Ross and Elizabeth Napurrurla Ross.

The College's Centre for Aboringal and Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) has an endowment fund through which it sponsors Indigenous people to become Centre Visitors under the Visiting Indigenous Fellowship Scheme, to be involved in collaborative research with CAEPR staff and higher degree research students. For details, visit the webpage.