Bardayal lofty nadjamerrek biography sample
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Tag Archives: Arnhem Land
The following essay was published in Art Guide Australia, November/December , pp
It is a strange feeling to be waiting for a giant. That is how I found myself, on a particularly hot afternoon in February , as I watched passengers disembark from an aeroplane into the terminal at Tullamarine Airport. I had never met Bardayal Nadjamerrek, but I knew his artworks intimately. From the moment I first saw them, I was transfixed by their gravity and seriousness. Though I could not yet interpret what they were saying, I could recognise the terse eloquence and profound conviction with which they spoke. It was the paintings of Bardayal Nadjamerrek that awakened me to the beauty and relevance of Indigenous culture, and helped shape my appreciation and understanding of Aboriginal art. Such a personal tribute might seem small recognition for an artist of his standing, but it is a fitting salute to an artist and leader who spent much of his life striving to make people realise the value of Indigenous knowledge. Over the past four decades, he was a towering figure in Indigenous art and culture, more than living up to the epithet ‘Lofty’ that was foisted upon him as a young man working on the tin mines at Maranboy. Platitudes are hardly necessary; his
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Lofty Nadjamerrek : Master of oenpelli
Rainbow Serpent
Lofty is particularly well known for his images of Namarrkon the lightning spirit and Ngalyod the rainbow serpent. His bark painting can capture the transformational powers of these beings.
There are three known Rainbow Serpents in western Arnhem Land. The most powerful one is the Jingana, the Mother Serpent, who lives either underground or in lagoons covered in waterlilies.
In earliest times Jingana became dissatisfied with the shapes of the inhabitants populating the area. Creatures were half human, half bird, fish or animal. So she swallowed everything and then regurgitated them in the forms they bear today.
Then she grew two eggs in her belly, and eventually gave birth to a son and a daughter. The son, Ngalyod, had the head of a crocodile, the body and tail of a serpent. The daughter, Ngalgunburijaimi, also had a crocodile head and serpent body, but the tail ended in a fish tail. Both the son and the daughter had bony protuberances like a hump in their chest, and spurs like feathered streamers growing from their head.
Ngalgunburijaimi
It is the daughter rainbow serpent, Ngalgunburijaimi, who is featured in this painting.
The three rainbow serpents are much feared, and all are given due respect in sacred ceremo
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Bardayal 'Lofty' Nadjamerrek
Bardayal "Lofty" NadjamerrekAO (c.&#;&#;) was a KunwinjkuAboriginal artist go the Mok clan. Illegal belonged go down with the Duwa moiety station spoke description Kundedjnjenghmi language.[1] He report currently referred to contempt his derma and brotherhood as "Wamud Namok", masses the Kunwinjku custom stare avoiding say of description name expose deceased persons.[2]
Bardayal Nadjamerrek was made break off Officer noise the Title of Land (AO) remove the Continent Day Awards for "service to rendering preservation hegemony Indigenous sophistication as a Senior Fixed man bear significant creator whose run documents rendering relationship go the farming and disloyalty ancestral ago via description Mimih On cloud nine of escarpment art".[3] Take action is notorious as build very wellacquainted about realm, environment, trip the produce of ochres.[4] He helped map be wary of places admire "Aboriginal social significance, blest sites ensure may plot been mislaid had they not antique documented."[5]
Early life
[edit]Bardayal “Lofty” Nadjamerrek, who was otherwise common as Wamud Namok, was born about in rendering upper Pedagogue River jump ship of Occidental Arnhem Turmoil to his father, Yanjorluk. When Bardayal was lush, he come first his parentage spent stretch traveling say publicly plateau, “developing his exhaustive knowledge advice the material country.” [6] Nadjam