Saturday Night
bunggul
Tonight there was dancing from the dhuwa
moiety – ngurula the crested tern. (This is the same
tern associated with the sacred merri string which Raymattja
told us about this morning.) It is dancing for a presentation
of, for example the sacred string the ‘yothu-merri’.
It belongs to three different groups – the people from
Rarrakala, for Galpu, and the Yirrkala people. If people have
lost an important relation, they may have this presented to
them to comfort them. Tonight it is part of the bunggul but
usually it is a climax and a farewell. After dancing the tern,
the Dhuwa people disperse as a cloud crossing over the land.
Then the Gurrumuru people came dancing – they are Galarrwuy’s
mother’s mother. They are also associated with Ganbulapula
who institituted the garma at Gulkula. Some people have asked
why we didn’t cut down the trees to make spaces where
you people are camping. We can’t cut them down. They
are spiritual trees. Maybe you don’t believe that trees
can dance. Part of this bunggul involves saying goodbye and
the Gurrumuru people dance a mourning dance surrounding the
giant carving of Ganbulapula at the front of the garma area.
The colour red is worn by the Yalila people. The previous
group was wearing yellow. It wasn’t always like this,
this is the case because of an old ceremonial exchange. This
sort of exchange happens everywhere. The Yalila people danced
the Macassan themes of telescope, flag and others. The women
were dancing by themselves, and Galarrwuy encouraged women
from many Yirritja clan groups to come together. In the end
there were women from many different groups including Gumatj,
Wangurri, Warramiri and Dhalwangu.
Bush Tucker
In a cooperative partnership, senior women
from Miwatj Health worked with with staff and students from
Batchelor College, they collected food from around the area
and brought it back to Gulkula to cook and present to Garma
participants.
The younger students were shown collecting
and cooking skills by local Yolngu. The oysters were especially
popular
Music Workshops
Students from Ramingining had
their opportunity to gain skills in the recording process
Photo Gallery
|
|
Garma Forum
Dhuni: Indigenous Arts and Culture
Galarrwuy:
Dhuni is a bush shelter calling people together to come quickly
to sort out, and set down the course to be taken. It is quick,
accurate, and has a purpose – like a ‘crash course’
which students take. Mostly the dhuni will last for about
four months, but this will be a quick one. The dhuni is a
gathering of people in quite a short time to achieve an important
learning. It is part of a process of growing in status. You
attend, pick up knowledge, and grow, building your own security,
it is something to live for. Grab it and feed, it will power
your ego instantly. Dhuni involves sitting down, listening,
grasping what is there in front of you, in every spirit or
soul, leaving it wide open. You feed your soul or inner being
as part of the learning. You can compare it to balanda society:
child care, school, university, they are all built on knowledge.
Each culture and language is perfect for the people who own
it.
Mandawuy:
This is an overview of garma. Back in 1997 when the Yothu
Yindi song ‘Treaty’ was at the top of the charts,
we had a vision of developing a situation for learning in
which the elders who hold the valuable knowledge were still
in authority. We needed to embrace non-indigenous ideas and
use them for making us strong. Also non-indigenous people
need our ideas. We could call that our Yolngu paradigm. It
is important for Yolngu children to understand that paradigm
if they are to embrace the future.
Djambawa:
Garma is very old, but it is now used for ngapaki (Europeans)
and Yolngu working together. It was always very important
for our own old people – for getting together to make
decisions and finding a way forward.
Gulumbu:
I want to tell you about this garma. We have been thinking
about it for a long time, and it has become a reality, coming
together for the benefit of the future generation, so for
anyone it is a personal journey of discovering and enlightenment,
for young and old, and black and white. When the time came
for garma, my sisters and I welcome it through crying for
the land. That’s what I can do. I can do in practice
what Djambawa was talking about, about garma and dhuni. Garma
is open. Dhuni connects with other things. They depend on
djalkiri – the footprints of the ancestors. Using the
string as an example, women’s responsibility lies in
making string objects for ceremonial use. This applies to
both Dhuwa and Yirritja moieties. The fibre produces things
which are used in the ceremonies. It is used for ‘mel-worum’
boys ready to receive knowledge. Also ochre and arm bands.
I’m just giving you examples of what Djambawa was talking
about.
Raymattja:
In 1986 I started learning about the Dhuwa garma which had
started at a place called Gunyipinya (near Yirrkala). Long
ago, many people came together, dancing for the sacred merri
string which belongs to Djambarrpuyngu, Rirratjingu, Bararrngu,
Gamalangga, an Bararrpararr people. They danced and celebrated
as the string was made. At the end, the short part of the
string stayed at Yirrkala, and the long part, went off with
the others. “We Rirratjingu and Dhudi-djambarrpuyngu
will keep the short one here, and you can take the long one.”
The merri I saw in 1986 had a carved tern’s head at one
end. So we Dhanbul people sing to that garma area – it
is a forum for people coming together. Things which we know
are made explicit – just as my mother (Gulumbu) described.
It leads to the dhuni. For Yirritja people it is here at Gulkula
for Ganbulapula the ancestor, he is also associated with other
clans who have their own stories. Dhuwa people have their
own too. Negotiating, making something like a form of treaty
or agreement between different clans. Like agreeing over intellectual
property, and ownership.
Ganhdhuwuy:
I was born at Milingimbi in 1940. The Djang’kawu ancestors,
who came here (close by) to Yalangbara, are also my own totem
from where I come from. I’m not here because of anything
that happened here today or yesterday, but because of the
ancient connections – through both my mother and my father.
Since way back in 1905 anthropologists have been collecting
notes recording history and putting it into the public arena.
Funerals, ceremonies for boys, women’s business (the
women know about that) are all part of the history of garma.
Galarrwuy and his father, and the Rirratjingu connections,
are part of my history. We dance in remembrance. The dhuni
has its introduction in garma. The dhuni is like the university,
learning how to deal with the politicians. I was involved
here, and my clan, not from yesterday, but from way back.
When I hear garma I know it is my appointment to connect with
my family. Making partners. Garma is for everybody, dhuwa
and yirritja.
ANKAAA Sessions
Many aboriginal artists from the Top
End and Kimberley regions are attending Garma this year as
members of ANKAAA. Stephanie Hawkins, the ANKAAA Manager,
began the session by briefly explaining what ANKAAA is before
introducing her chairman Djambawa Marawili. Djambawa invited
his visiting countrymen to stand up and speak English to tell
their stories to the audience.
Many artists from as many as ten ANKAAA
member Art Centres stood and spoke about who they are, their
country and their art.
The afternoon session started with Jo Foster (Culture Centre
Coordinator) and Joan Nagomara (artist and ANKAAA executive
member) from Warlayirti Artists at Balgo Hills present the
techniques, materials and manner in which glass artworks are
being produced there.
There was a lot of interest from the
audience with a lengthy Q&A session following the presentation
about the work, the artists and how glass has been adopted
as a new medium.
Richard Haigh, Freight and Conservation
Coordinator at Maningrida Arts and Culture (MAC) then gave
a presentation on Culture Preservation and Conservation Techniques
at MAC.
The problems MAC faces stem from their
Total Acquisition Policy whereby over 700 artists produce
bark paintings, wooden sculptures, hollow logs and fibre weavings
that MAC subsequently purchases and sells on the artists’
behalf. The nature of the problems include mould during the
tropical summer, borer infestation, unseasoned timber splitting,
and the packing and transport of artworks over very large
distances.
MAC have been progressively introducing measures to address
these issues over the last 12 months
Collaborative
Printmaking Project
Sitting under a shade, artists from a number of Top End and
Kimberly communities wait for the okay to start a collaborative
printmaking project. Eighty etching plates are set out on
a table, which will piece together to form a large-scale collaborative
work by artists from ANKAAA art centres members. Before each
individual plate can be assigned to artists, the senior law
men and painters from Arnhem Land and the Kimberley needed
to come together to decide on a conceptual framework for the
collaborative work.
Four men arrived at the shady place and
looked over the blank plates just before lunch: Tommy May,
Freddy Timms, Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Djambawa Marrawili.
Each
man told the others his totem, and they discussed possible
themes for the artwork. What would be the symbol for this
artistic meeting of Aboriginal artists whose lands cover the
entire northern part of Australia?
Galarrwuy spoke to the assembled crowd after the negotiations.
The common thing we know, he said, is that when its time for
the ceremony, we clap the boomerang. The boomerang is the
tongue. We sing the boomerang for one side of the Gulf of
Carpentaria. And these others sing for the other side. The
boomerang talks of travel and is the symbol for communication.
It is associated with the fresh water python, the rainbow
snake. When the boomerang is sent to the other side of the
country, a message is sent that way. The message is guided
by the sound of the boomerang. The message of the boomerang
is also a message to the whole nation of Aboriginal people.
It is understood everywhere.
Then Tommy May spoke:
The boomerang is a message stick. When someone takes a message
stick to someone else, it is a call for them. A boomerang
calls them back here for a meeting. Nowadays we use a stick,
a long one, and the boomerang.
The men agreed that there should be two boomerangs facing
each other, in the centre, in the middle of all the plates.
And they should be big ones, with most of the painting inside.
As long as the boomerang face each other.
After lunch, Tommy May brushed strokes of black paint across
a series of plates to make the first boomerang. And once two
boomerang faced each other, the plates were allocated to the
awaiting artists. Their work began.
|
HOME
