Ngarang (small): little Barks from the Top End

Koskela Gallery is excited to present, Ngarang (small): little barks from the Top End.

The Koskela Gallery is delighted to showcase a diverse range of First Nations artists and art centres from across Australia. As part of our commitment to reconciliation, our gallery space is a platform to recognise, respect and raise awareness of the important role community art centres and artists play in keeping culture strong. 

Ngarang is a collaborative exhibition, featuring a collection of miniature bark artworks from four art centres in Australia's Top End - Maningrida Arts & Culture, Injalak Arts, Marrawuddi Arts and Bula'Bula Arts. This exhibition is available online and is showing at our North Sydney location from 11th March - 16th April, 2023.

For millennia, clan designs have been painted on bodies and ceremonial objects. In the twentieth century, these designs were painted on Stringy bark expressing the beauty and power of the artists culture and becoming highly collected art forms. Koskela’s latest exhibition Ngarang is an exhibition of these beautiful barks in a miniature form by artists from Art Centres that span the Top End region.

Bark is a versatile medium both traditionally and in the contemporary art space. It can be stretched, whittled, carved and fused into cloth - a natural and wild canvas. Collecting and preparing the bark is not as easy as grabbing a canvas from the art supplies store!

Scroll right to view image gallery ->

The bark of the Stringybark tree is used and must be free of knots and other blemishes. It is best cut from the tree after the wet season when the sap is rising. Two horizontal slices and a single vertical slice are made into the tree, and the bark is carefully peeled off with the aid of a sharpened tool. Only the inner smooth bark is kept and placed in a fire. After heating in the fire, the bark is flattened under foot and weighted with stones or logs to dry flat. Once dry, it is ready to paint on. 

Not only is this exhibition a vibrant articulation of artistic expression, latent in cultural stories, but by using bark as their medium, every element of the exhibition is hand-made and prepared by the artists. A very beautiful and resourceful way to create.

 

The Art Centres

Injalak Arts

Injalak Arts was established in 1989, and is an Aboriginal owned centre for art, craft and community who strive to deliver positive social, economic and cultural outcomes for all involved. Based in Gunbalanya, an Aboriginal community with a population of 1200 in West Arnhem Land at the top of the Northern Territory in Australia.

In Kunwinjku (the language of the artists), Injalak means shelter. Injalak Arts pride themselves on creating a safe place for culture, creativity and knowledge to bloom within the community. With over 200 active members – artists, weavers and craftspeople from Gunbalanya and surrounding homelands, their year-round production of art is inspired by connection to culture, country and people.

All of Injalak's art is informed by the artists’ experiences, country, and culture. In West Arnhem Land bininj (men or people) and daluk (women) are born into eight skin groups and two moieties, Duwa and Yirridjdja. Each cultural group has their own history and traditions and each belong to a kunmokurrkurr (clan). In the same way a story or Djang (creation stories or Dreamings) can change depending on who is telling the story, the connections between people and the cultural intricacies they share also influence artistic expression.

Today, all the artists are linked by Kunwinjku language and the significance of the Arnhem Plateau rock art. At the core of West Arnhem Land, 2 million hectares of sandstone escarpment stretches across the Northern Territory. This escarpment, and outliers like Injalak Hill in Gunbalanya, are some of the most salient and valuable areas of rock art in the world. The immeasurable depths of history in country continues to live through our artists today by creating works informed by the layered paintings of thousands of years ago.

Engaging over 500 artists from in and around Kakadu, Marrawuddi Arts & Culture showcases the culture of the Kakadu and West Arnhem region. Staff support artists through regular bush trips to collect traditional materials, such as pandanus, bush dye and bark, as well as facilitating workshops for skill development. Marrawuddi Arts & Culture is a place for intergenerational exchange and learning.

The works featured in Ngarang are by the following Marrawuddi artists: Clarrie Nadjamerrek, Carissa Gurwalwal, Roberta (Yulyulmarra) Wurrkidj, Johnan Dooley, Eleazer Nangukwirrk, Jill Namundja, Pam Wurrkidj, Ruth Bindeibal

Koskela is deeply committed to reconciling with our First Nations history and cultures, and we do this by creating income earning opportunities for First Nations artists and makers through collaborative design projects and our gallery space. This generates an income independent of Government, helping artists to continue to live a life they have chosen to lead and maintain their traditional practices. It also facilitates artists to access markets outside the traditional art markets, enabling them to tell their stories and showcase their cultures to a broader audience. To date we have collaborated with 71 First Nations artist and art centre partners, generating over $1.4 million in income.

Do you have any questions? Get in touch today, and we will connect you with the right person in our team.

Koskela is proud to be the first furniture and homewares company in Australia to be a Certified B Corporation®.

Explore more of our modern furniture collection or Australian Artworks collection.