ART-PRESENTATION:A Lightness Of Spirit Is The Measure Of Happiness,Part I

Celebrating the significance of family, community and humour in contemporary Aboriginal life, the exhibition “A Lightness of Spirit is the Measure of Happiness” features 10 new commissions by artists from south-east Australia and beyond, in an exploration of everyday life and experiences of Aboriginal people today. Country music icons, queer identity, pop-culture and community leadership are referenced, as well as the legacy of ancestors and the importance of coming together to strengthen identity and connection (Part II).

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: ACCA Archive

“A Lightness of Spirit is the Measure of Happiness” is the inaugural exhibition for Yalingwa, a partnership between Creative Victoria, ACCA and TarraWarra Museum of Art, designed to support the development of Contemporary Indigenous art and curatorial practice.  Artists and projects: Robert Fielding’s artistic practice revolves around the collision of cultures, interpreting the space in between by drawing on his family and community as inspiration. For Fielding, it is important to share the sense of unity and connection he feels for his Country and community, which he does by working across various mediums including photography and film which he has embraced more recently. Fielding has created a new photographic essay, moving image work and accompanying soundscape which re-contextualises everyday objects, bringing them back to life and acknowledging the interactions people have had with them over time. Alongside this work is an installation of old flour buckets collected from around Indulkana, referring to past generations of his family living on rations of flour, tea, sugar and tobacco.  Peter Waples-Crowe creates bold colourful work that explores the representation of Aboriginal people in popular culture, often referencing the dingo as a totemic figure and an analogy for Indigenous peoples. “Ngarigo Queen – Cloak of queer visibility” (2018) is a culturally-specific statement about identity and standing up for yourself and your Mob in the face of cultural erasure. Waples-Crowe explores his emerging role as a queer Elder in the Aboriginal community. Bringing queer activism to the forefront, Waples-Crowe has created a lasting cultural artefact in the form of a possum skin cloak. The fur side of the cloak is adorned with a crucifix, speaking to the erasure of queer histories in Aboriginal culture due to the strict religious heterosexual gaze of colonisation. Creating his own cloak, Waples-Crowe honours the artists of the South East who bought this practice back into our everyday lives. Lisa Waup combines traditional art forms and methods with a contemporary practice to create distinctively original weavings, sculptural objects and works on paper. Her new body of work is a collection of whimsical figures that represent family and ancestors. “Ancestors” (2018) talks about the duality required of Aboriginal people in Australian society, having your identity questioned and the ignorance we must endure about our cultural connections. The two faces of the rotating doll flips between smiling faces. Both figures are expressions of light and happiness, conjuring the strength to be joyful no matter what position they rest in. The accompanying group of “Ancestors” stand tall and grounded. They are dressed in paper cloaks etched with protective shield designs and documentation of family history, connecting Waup to the story of her ancestry, as figures of strength and resilience. The five figures in “Family” (2018) represent the complexity of Waup’s extended family. Vicki Couzens is a member of the Keerray Woorrong and Gunditjmara clans of the Western Districts of Victoria. Her diverse practice is centred around Country, language and identity and the reclamation of cultural practices, placing importance on reciprocal knowledge. “Djawannacuppatea” (2018) is designed to promote Vicki’s self-determined, key focus in creating ‘living legacy’ through the transference of cultural knowledge and practice to and within her family across generations. Having a ‘cuppa’ tea is a common Aboriginal way of catching up and sharing among family and community. Yhonnie Scarce’s practice explores the political nature and aesthetic qualities of glass, referencing the history of nuclear testing on her family’s homelands, and illuminating the ongoing effects of colonisation on Aboriginal people. Family history is central to Scarce’s work, drawing on the strength of her ancestors, she offers herself as a conduit, sharing their significant stories from the past. Scarce’s new commission, “Remember Royalty” (2018) honours generations of her ancestors in a work reminiscent of a shrine or monument. Large scale banners are suspended in space like religious pennants, adorned with historical photographs that have been meticulously transferred onto fabrics relating to each family member. Alongside each portrait are intricate hand-crafted gifts created in glass by Scarce to honour her ancestors. Vincent Namatjira paintings are bold and expressive works that often incorporate self-portraiture and clever combinations of historical and current day politics. Namatjira draws on humour and the unexpected to tell his stories, often placing his subjects in unusual and quirky environments that add personality to the scenes. In “Welcome to Indulkana” (2018) Namatjira has painted two of the most influential and controversial political figures in the world visiting his remote desert community of Indulkana, and in doing so he has shifted their power in an unexpected way. Peter Mungkuri, Alec Baker and Mr Kunmanara Pompey are senior artists and respected leaders from the APY Lands community of Indulkana. In the 1940s through to the 1960s, these young men were renowned stockmen working on the land and living the stockman’s life. This significant time in their lives was spent working with horses and mustering cattle. Though this was a hard time in their lives, they look back on it fondly and with much pride. In 2017, the group led a men’s camp at nearby cattle station Welbourn Hill, funded by the Australia Council. At the camp, the men came together to talk about everyday life and to tell stories around the fire to a soundtrack of Country and Western music. Meanwhile, they created the short film “Never stop riding” an Indulkana Spaghetti Western shot at Welbourn Hill station, at Indulkana and the surrounding homelands. There is a playfulness in Tiger Yaltangki’s paintings that is suggestive of a carefree imagination and his characters have a sense of lightness and happiness with a rock ‘n’ roll edge. “TIGERLAND” (2018) is a lively assemblage of cheeky and wonderfully vivid faces and guitars suspended in front of an elaborately illustrated mural-scale canvas. This installation offers real insight into Tiger Yaltangki’s everyday life, the things that inspire him and how he sees the world. His inspiration is drawn from a love of sci-fi movies and TV series such as The Mighty Boosh and Dr Who, layered with his favourite musical references. The energetic background composition of faces and figures set within an abstract landscape reflects a dynamic sense of familial, communal and spiritual connectedness within the Indulkana community. Mr Kunmanara Pompey was a senior Yankunytjatjara man from Indulkana whose paintings represent joyful, painterly depictions of his life and memories of youth spent as a hard-working stockman, and later as a travelling country musician with his wife. His final works titled “Cowboy story” are a reminder of the good old days and a beautiful homage to his late wife.  Kaylene Whiskey paints colorful and joyful portraits of the famous music and film stars she admires, telling stories of her family, friends and Country. Her work is a celebration of strong women in pop-culture and the lines happily blur between her own life and theirs. “Seven Sistas” (2018 )illustrates the story of Kungkarangulpa, the Seven Sisters or Pleiades constellation. Aboriginal Nations across the country have variations on this creation story, which talks of the bad Wati Nyiru (man) that chases the seven sisters with the aim of making them his wives. The sisters keep running and escape, ending up in the sky, creating the well-known constellation. Jonathan Jones creates installations that engage with current and historical experiences of place. Jones’ new commission “untitled (gidyirriga)” (2018) evokes a sense of nostalgia in its celebration of the native parrotand in doing so the artist subtly acknowledges a much longer history of connection to Country and the spirit of place, language and intellectual property. The word ‘budgerigar’, like many Australian words, has been corrupted from an Aboriginal language. In Wiradjuri these birds are called gidyirriga. Although over five million years old, budgies have only recently become domesticated. Jones’ personal collection of ceramic budgies is set against a hand-painted wall design using a stamp made from domestic sponges.

Info: Curator: Hannah Presley, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), 111 Sturt Street, Southbank Victoria, Duration: 6/7-16/9/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-17:00, Sat-sun 11:–17:00, https://acca.melbourne