Saltwater Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sea Country --

Recognising Indigenous Sea Rights

The Australian National Maritime Museum has organised a unique and spectacular exhibition:

Saltwater Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sea Country – Recognising Indigenous Sea Rights.

The Collection is a significant and comprehensive document of Yolngu community's law. The planned tour of this exhibition will be the first time that this Collection has been seen outside of Australia.

Saltwater Yirrkala Bark Paintings is an exhibition organized by the Australian National Maritime Museum that documents the spiritual and legal basis of the Yolngu people's ownership of land in northeast Arnhem Land in Northern Australia. The artists reveal how their Ancestral beings travelled across the saltwater country naming and giving form to the area, and explain the ceremonies that are associated with the saltwater country.

The spectacular bark paintings double as legal documents. The works were painted by artists among the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land in the late 1990s to explain their traditional ties with the region's coastal zone -- their "saltwater country.

Conscious of their social and artistic significance, the Australian National Maritime Museum acquired all the paintings in 2000...... keeping the collection intact, and is presenting them as a traveling exhibition. Together the barks map hundreds of kilometres of coastal tract, showing physical and social features throughout the region.

Saltwater documents many aspects of Yolngu culture and knowledge systems, Indigenous rights, law, history, environment, Indonesian contact, biology, animals, maps, fishing, oceanography, and climate.

The bark paintings are filled with vibrant images -- ancestral beings, ancient mariners, symbolic icons and a host of spiritual creatures including snakes, crocodiles, fish, turtles and birds, all set against traditional sacred designs representing fresh, tidal and salt water.

The paintings are not only stunning works of art... they have their place in Australia's political and legal history. They set down the Yolngu people's claim to sea rights -- their responsibilities to protect their saltwater country above and below the highwater mark, and their desire to be involved in its future management.

Saltwater explains the spiritual and legal basis of the Yolngu people ownership. To these saltwater estates, by revealing how the creator ancestors and Ancestral beings traveled across the saltwater country, naming and giving form to the area and explaining the ceremonies associated with the saltwater country.

Elders believe that revealing sacred designs to the Balander (stranger or white people) will advance mutual understanding and respect for Yolngu law.

This extraordinary and beautiful series of bark paintings shows for the first time ‘inside knowledge’ that is regarded as ‘secret/sacred’ to become ‘outside knowledge’ to inform and show the spiritual and legal basis underpinning their Native Title Sea Claim. Yolngu elders have advised that these Sea Rights paintings will never be produced again because of their historical nature.

The artists reveal how their Ancestral beings travelled across the saltwater country naming and giving form to the area, and explain the ceremonies that are associated with the saltwater country. The barks in the Saltwater Collection were painted by 47 artists who have inherited the right to paint their area of sea country. Together the bark paintings form a comprehensive map of the saltwater country to Arnhem Land from Wessel Island in the north, Yirrkala in the centre, and Blue Mud Bay in the south. The paintings document Yolngu culture, knowledge systems, indigenous rights, law, history, Indonesian contact, animals, fishing, oceanography and climate.	The Yolngu people are the owners of an area of land in north-east Arnhem Land in the tropical monsoonal region, of Northern Australia; this region is boarded by the confluence of the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria. For the Yolngu the land and the sea combine to be foundation of their culture. Yolngu elders have instructed that these particular sea rights paintings will never be produced again and the work must stay together as the Saltwater Collection. The collection dates from October 1996 when Yolngu elder Waka Mununggurr was inspecting the sacred coastal areas Garrangali -- home of Baru, the Ancestral Crocodile from whom the Madarrpa clan descended.
At this sacred place, clan elder Waka Mununggurr discovered an illegal barramundi fishing camp defiled with dumped rubbish -- fuel drums, food scraps, bedding and, worst of all, a hessian bag containing the severed head of a crocodile. Disgusted at the continual invasion of this and other sacred waterways and the sacrilege of beheading Baru in his own nest, Yolngu elders responded by using their sacred art to explain to outsiders the laws which underpin their society. The Yolngu painted their sacred stories to share and educate the outside world, so outsiders would understand the magnitude of the desecration that was happening on Yolngu land.
	The exhibition contains works by recognised masters such as Mowarra Ganambarr, Djalu Gurruwiwi and Gawirrin Gumana Larrtjanna. Each of the 47 artists has inherited the right to paint only his or her sea country, but together form a comprehensive map of the saltwater country of north-east Arnhem Land from the Wessel islands in the North, Yirrkala in the center, to Blue Mud Bay in the south. These spectacular contemporary paintings are firmly based in the traditional styles and methods, of the Yolngu culture. The Yolngu are recognised by many as the producers of some of the finest bark paintings in the world. This is especially evident in Saltwater.
Available: from late 2010 Size: 8000 - 10,000 square feet Number of works Approximately 76 works are available. Exhibition can be modified depending on gallery space Catalogue A fully illustrated color catalogue is available for resale Support Material A cultural map, introduction, subtheme and object panels accompany the exhibition providing an important cultural context for the indivdual works and the artists represented in the exhibition Audio-visual, interactive media and education programs can be provided. Marketing / PR Graphic identity, high resolution imags, captions, media release and templates of artwork will be provided
	Conservation Museum standard environmental conditions apply. Bark Paintings The bark paintings are taken from the tree Eucalyptus tetradonta (commonly known as stringy bark). The ochres and pigments used to create the images are mixed with water and pva adhesive to create the paint medium. Each bark has an individual aluminium support which attaches to the bark by means of discreet hoks along both the horizontal and vertical edges of the bark. The bark paintings have been fitted with aluminium frames that have cushion protectafoam, bent to the contours of the bark. At the ends of the aluminium bars a flexible and adjustable aluminium plate hook grips the bark from the sides and top, the bottom being supported by fixed plate hooks.
	Baraltja Artist Bakulangay Marawili Moiety Yirritja Clan Madarrpa Homeland Bäniyala Saltwater Country Baraltja Title Burrut’tji II Painting 109x39cm
Arnhem Bay Artist Bowathay Munyarryun Moiety Yirritja Clan Wangurri Homeland Muthamul Saltwater Country Arnhem Bay Title Wangurri Monuk Painting 63 Catgalogue page 88 287x127cm	Bayapula Artist Gaymala Yunupingu Moiety Yirritja Clan Gumatj Homeland Biranybirany Saltwater Country Bayapula Title Gumatj Monuk Painting 119x92cm

	Lutumba Artist Minyipa Mununggurr Moiety Dhuwa Clan Djapu Homeland Wandawuy Saltwater Country Lutumba Title Balamumu Gapu Painting 156 x 81cm