Blog

The Magazine Antiques: A Rare Viewing of Aboriginal Art in the Big Apple
Originally published in The Magazine Antiques, September 23, 2024 Yolŋu bark paintings have been a jewel of Australian art for decades. Classified as...

C-ville Weekly: Essential to the Soul
From the Aboriginal perspective, “Madayin” is far more profound than an art exhibition. The word itself means sacred and sublime, and the Yolŋu, in...

Review: Maḏayin: An Unveiling of Essence and Strength
Maḏayin, currently showcasing at the University of Virginia’s Fralin Museum of Art, is a manifestation of the Yolŋu culture’s essence ... A true show of...

UVA Arts Magazine: Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala
Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala, is the most significant exhibition of bark painting ever to tour the United...

The Cavalier Daily: Become enriched in Yolngu Aboriginal culture through the Fralin’s “Madayin” exhibit
Originally published in The Cavalier Daily, February 8, 2024. A pounding voice chants rhythmically alongside a projection of waves crashing as one enters the...

The Daily Progress: Generations of family stories and songs inform Aboriginal art at The Fralin
Jane Sathe of The Daily Progress reviews Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from...

“One Straight Line.” An interview with Marrnyula Munuŋgurr
The following interview with Yolŋgu artist Marrnyula Munuŋgurr was conducted in Darwin on April 26, 2023 with Henry Skerritt and Kade McDonald for MAḎAYIN:...

Humanities Magazine: Aboriginal Expressionism
In Maḏayin, walls of indigo and white are arrayed with variegated, column-like barks: Intricacy is vividly on display. The curators, some of whom are...

Her Campus: AU Museum Highlights Global Status of Aboriginal Australian Bark Paintings
A collection of bark paintings on display at the American University Museum this winter honors Aboriginal Australian people’s connection to their land and...

The Washington Post: Australian Aboriginal Art that transports you to another world
The pictures in Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting From Yirrkala represent the universe. The enigmatic designs in the American...

MAḎAYIN and Australia’s New Cultural Policy
On January 30, 2023, the Commonwealth Government of Australia released its new National Cultural Policy. It has been 10 years since the previous National...

Ishmael Marika reflects upon the opening of MAḎAYIN at the Hood Museum of Art
In September 2022, Ishmael Marika traveled to the United States as part of a delegation of Yolŋu artists to attend the opening celebration for the exhibition...

Art Collector reviews MAḎAYIN
Currently touring the USA is Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Paintings from Yirrkala, a collaboration between the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal...

Did you miss MAḎAYIN at the Hood Museum?
Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala? Explore the 3D Matterport...

Hood Quarterly: Maḏayin – A Curatorial Conversation
The following interview was conducted in June 2022 between Jami Powell, curator of Indigenous Art, Hood Museum of Art, and Henry Skerritt, assistant professor...

Artscope Magazine: “An Inspirational Pairing”
Transfixing, almost hypnotic in their exquisite precision, intricate and complex patterns appear to reach outward from the undulant surfaces of cured...

Curator Jami Powell discusses MAḎAYIN.
Curator Jami Powell discusses Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from...

The Dartmouth Review: Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum
Hanover’s very own Hood Museum of Art is hosting Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from September 3 until December 4. The...

From a Volunteer’s Vantage Point
An illuminated wall of lapping sea water beckons at the entrance to MADAYIN at the Hood Museum of Art. Sounds of foamy waves overlaid with Indigenous voices...

The Dartmouth: Maḏayin makes history at the Hood
“This exhibition traces the trajectory of sharing by allowing people who will never understand the intricacies of Yolŋu culture a window into what might...

Valley News: Aboriginal Offerings continue at the Hood Museum
"The Yolngu designs are powerful and they evoke a feeling of unity, of oneness, that is rarely captured in visual...

Wall Street Journal: Madayin: Sacred Patterns, Celestial Images
"It's hard to imagine more captivating works. Such revelatory exhibitions deserve to travel, and fortunately this one begins a nationwide tour after its time...

Finding A Path to Keep Stories Alive, in The Australian
An ambitious Indigenous exhibition is about to be...

Wukun on Milkarri
Throughout the process of curating Maḏayin, the Yolŋu curators have constantly stressed that every painting has an accompanying manikay (song). These...

Painting Up to Launch Maḏayin
Kade McDonald recounts the story of Wukun Wanambi and Yinimala Gumana preparing to launch Madayin at Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art...

Many Monsoonal Rains of Yolŋu Bark Painting
Back in 2015, when Djambawa Marawili first said he wanted an exhibition that told “the whole story of Yolŋu bark painting” it immediately forced us to...

Flying High at Tarnanthi 2019
Kluge-Ruhe’s bark painting commissions for Madayin made their Australian debut in October 2019 during Tarnanthi, a city-wide festival of Aboriginal and...

Photographing the Maḏayin Paintings
I think of every exhibition as a partnership –or at least, made up of partnerships. Partnerships with artists and knowledge holders, partnerships with my...

What’s in a name?
Finding the right name for an exhibition is always hard. It’s even harder in the case of an exhibition curated by a team of people across two continents!...

Yolŋu in Los Angeles
Visiting Los Angeles with Djambawa Marawili, Wäka Munuŋgurr and Kade McDonald was an adventure. Our first stop was the Fowler Museum at UCLA where we were...

Snowball’s Famous Frybread Tacos
While visiting Washington DC in September 2017, Djambawa Marawili and Wäka Mununggur met with Kevin Gover, then Director of the National Museum of the...

Djambawa Wins the National Art Award
“You are not to tell another soul.” “Not Margo, not Kade, not even your wife.” “Ah, ok?” “I’m serious. This is for your ears only. Can you keep...

Wukun in America
The differences between American and Australian cultures are evident across people, places, and events. Being one of the lead curators for Maḏayin has meant...

A Trip to the American Museum of Natural History
When I went across to America, everything was different. Yes, especially in New York. It felt very strange to me, because it was all city, no bush. But then in...

Curating at Kluge-Ruhe
Djambawa Marawili AM returned to Kluge-Ruhe with clan leader Wäka Mununggur and project manager Kade McDonald in September 2017. This visit was a whirlwind of...

A Most Meaningful Ceremony
In producing Maḏayin in collaboration with Yolŋu artists and knowledge holders, we intend to realize Djambawa’s vision. This project, with its touring...

A Personal Reflection on the Origins of Maḏayin
I had no idea quite how eventful October 2015 would be when I headed out from my home in Pittsburgh for my first visit to the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art...