Banduk Marika

Marika was born on 13 October 1954 at Yirrkala, north-east Arnhem Land.[2] Her father Mawalan Marika (1908–1967)[3] was an artist and he taught her the techniques of bark painting.[4] She was educated at the mission at Yirrkala, then moved to Darwin in 1972.[2]

In the mid-1980s Marika was artist-in-residence first at the Canberra School of Art and then at Flinders University.[2][4]

Her work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia,[5] Te Papa in New Zealand[6] and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.[7]

A colour photographic portrait of Marika taken by Anne Zahalka in 1990 is held by the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.[8]

Marika gave the 2010 Eric Johnston Lecture on the subject "Land Management and Cultural Responsibility", a recording being held by the Northern Territory Library.[9]

In 2017 she and Tiwi Islander Bede Tungutalum were chosen to design a set of four stamps with the theme "Art of the North" for Australia Post.[10]

At the 2001 National Indigenous Arts Awards Marika won the Red Ochre Award for her work in the visual arts.[11]

In 2005, she won the bark painting prize at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards for the painting Yalangbara. She was assisted in painting the work by Boliny and Ralwurrandji Wanambi.[12]

Her book, Yalangbara: Art of the Djang’kawu, was joint winner of the 2009 Chief Minister's Northern Territory Book History Awards.[13]

In April 2018 Marika received an honorary doctorate from Flinders University for "her remarkable contributions as a First Nations artist and cultural advocate for the Yolngu people".[4]

Marika was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2019 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to the visual arts, particularly to Indigenous printmaking and bark painting, and through cultural advisory roles".[14]

In 2020 Marika featured as one of six Indigenous artists in the ABC TV series This Place: Artist Series. The series is a partnership between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Gallery of Australia, in which the producers travelled to the countries of "some of Australia's greatest Indigenous artists to share stories about their work, their country, and their communities".[15][16]

In 1993, it was found that Marika's print 'Djanda and the Sacred Waterhole' (1988) had been reproduced without permission on rugs marketed by the Perth-based company Indofurn Pty Ltd.[17] Marika joined with the two other artists whose works had been used, George Milpurrurru and Tim Payungka Tjapangarti, to seek reparations under the Copyright Act and Trade Practices Act.[18] The Federal Court awarded damages of $188,000 to the artists and ordered the rugs be released to them. This was the largest penalty awarded for copyright infringement against Australian artists up to that time, and included compensation for cultural damage stemming from the unauthorised use of sacred imagery.[19]

• Marika, Banduk, 1954-, (editor.); West, Margie K. C., 1950-, (editor.); Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory (2008), Yalangbara : art of the Djang'kawu, Charles Darwin University Press, ISBN 978-0-9803846-7-3CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)

• Raymattja Marika (c.1959 – 11 May 2008)
• Roy Dadaynga Marika (c.1925– 1993)
• Wandjuk Marika (1927–1987)

"The Marika family [Exhibition notes from Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu]". National Museum of Australia. 29 July 2019. Short bios of: Mawalan 1 Marika (c. 1908–1967), Mathaman Marika (c. 1920–1970), Milirrpum Marika (c. 1923–1983), Roy Dadaynga Marika MBE (c. 1925–1993), Wandjuk Djuwakan Marika OBE (1929–1987), Banduk Marika (born 1954), Dhuwarrwarr Marika (born c.1946), Wanyubi Marika (born 1967),Yalmay Gurrwun (Marika) Yunupingu (born 1956), Mawalan 2 Marika (born 1957), Jimmy Barrmula Yunupingu (born 1963) (son of Dhuwarrwarr Marika)