Author(s): Cara Pinchbeck

Art and Design

Drawn from a unique collection held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, this book includes 62 bark paintings produced in the 1950s, as well as woven forms, paperbark objects, carved wooden figures and feathered body ornamentation. Together with essays on the artists, the art and the history of Milingimbi, and historic and contemporary photographs, Art from Milingimbi provides readers with a unique insight into the artists, their culture and their connectedness to place. While there has been great interest in art from western and north-eastern Arnhem Land and Ramingining, there has been little written or published on the exemplary art of Milingimbi. With new research conducted in collaboration with the Milingimbi community, this book is the first publication about Milingimbi and the exemplary artists working there in the 1950s. These artists actively engaged with the art market and generously depicted the complexities of Yolngu culture in their works. Many works refer to the highly valued commodity of sugarbag or honey and depict the related clan designs. Other evocative works refer to environmental events, such as rain falling in the trees or animals waiting in anticipation for the rains to come.