Garma Festival

In 2007, framed prints from the editions created from Garma Panel and Print Projects 2003 to 2005 were on display and offered for sale in the Garmawuy Miny’tji: The Garma Panel Exhibition.

The display also included the 2003 Garma Panel, a large multi-print work created during the 2003 Garma Panel Collaborative Art Project, and colour images from the Garma Festival by photographers Mark Rogers and Eilish Markuniny, a multimedia student from Galiwin’ku.

On the first day the Gallery received a visit from an official party which included the Federal Minister for Arts and Sports, Senator the Hon George Brandis, the Hon Clare Martin MLA Chief Minister of the NT, Marion Scrymgour MLA NT Minister for Arts and Museums and other NT government ministers.

The gallery space also provided a workshop for Indigenous artists who came to create linocuts and to have them proofed, ready for editioning later.

The Print Workshop and Panel Gallery was set up by Gary Single and coordinated by Christine Colton. The Gallery and Workshop were staffed by a team of fine volunteers including printmaker Sussie Heymans from the College of Fine Art in Sydney. Sussie was responsible for creating proofs of the linocuts as they were created, providing each artist with the opportunity to view and refine if necessary the finished work to their satisfaction and to approve it for editioning.

Volunteers interviewed the artists, collecting information and stories about the meaning behind the prints. This information will be used to provide contextual information about the prints for buyers of these works once editioned. Volunteers also talked to visitors and prospective buyers about the works and the concept and history of the Garma Panel Collaborative Art Project.

Artists mostly cut their lino blocks outside the gallery space on tables set up under the trees. Some artists preferred to take the blocks away and carve them at their camps or at other locations on the Festival site. The blocks were proofed outdoors, attracting interest from passersby.

Some artists had participated in previous Garma print workshops; others were new to Garma and sometimes to printmaking. Those who were carvers found the process easy to adapt to. Some artists preferred to use razor blades rather than lino cutting tools and some tried their hand at printing. The process involved using the baren – a handheld burnishing tool traditionally used in Japanese printmaking. In the absence of a printing press, proofs are made using the baren or a wooden spoon to apply pressure to the back of the paper which transfers the ink from the block to the paper.

Artists who participated in 2007 were: Barrupu; Gulumbu Yunupingu; Banduk Marika; Djalinda Ulamari; Nerida Lane; Melanie Nelson; Harry Mununggurr; Steven Bara and Felicity Wanambi; Dhopiya Gurruwiwi; Hilda Wurrawilya; Joanna Wurrumurra; Dhanggal Gurruwiwi; Gulumbu Yunupingu; Gayili Yunupingu; Djapirri Mununggirritj; Yalmay Yunupingu; Magnolia Yunupingu; Denise Brady; Shari Togo; Cecilia Geissler; Katie Leslie; Haylie Salmon; Carly Sheppard; Susie Warwick; Lili Yunupingu; Charleen Williams; Lyndell MacDonald ; Dawn Yunupingu; Dawn Townsend; Jenny Hayes aka Bunya Bunya; Nazareth Alfred; Kerry Wunungmurra; Josephine Lardy; Ada Napangardi Lechleitner; Lyndell MacDonald; Thelma Yanaymal Munungurr; Binmila Yunupingu; Alkira Wallace; Nyapanyapa Yunupingu; Sylvia Rrawukang; Roy McIvor; Thelma McIvor; Mary Cobus; Marion Dingo; and Brett Nannup.

The artists came from Nhulunbuy; Yirrkala; Gunyangara; Wallangamma; Gamillaroi; Mackay; Garrimala; Angururu; Wiradjuri]; Groote Eylandt; Jilkminggan; Mparntwe; Warburton; Burringbar; Milingimbi; Hopevale; Masig; and Cooktown.

The exhibition was later transferred to the new gallery at the Yothu Yindi Foundation offices in Darwin for the official opening of the YYF office by Kathy Keele, Australia Council CEO, on Saturday 11 August.

This exhibition in the Garma Festival Gallery formed part of the Darwin Festival free Art Gallery Bus Tour that ran all day between some 15 galleries featuring Indigenous art exhibitions. Individual editioned prints, boxed sets and complete panels as well as a range of photographs were for sale.

Collectors may visit the Garma Festival Gallery by appointment:

Phone 61 8 89412900

Report prepared by Christine Colton
Coordinator