Djambawa Marawili

Marawili was born in Baniyala in Eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is the son of Wakuthi Marawili and Mulkun Wirrpanda. Marawili's mother, Mulkun Wirrpanda, is one of the few women in the Yolngu community who is acknowledged as a leader due to her great knowledge of the Dhuji-Djapu clan, and her father is Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda who was a Yolngu leader. She is also an artist, painting on bark, memorial poles, and didgeridoos, and she also has skills in carving, weaving, and printmaking, which have been shown in exhibitions in Australia and Asia.[2] Marawili is the husband of Liawaday Wirrpanda, who is also an artist herself, exhibiting with her mother, Galuma Maymuru.[3][4] In the Madarrpa clan of the Yolngu, Marawili serves as a senior leader, facilitating and leading ceremonies.[5]

In addition to leading ceremonies, he ensures the spiritual well-being of his own people as well as the people in other clans. Acting as an activist and administrator, Marawili serves to connect the Yolngu people and non-Aboriginal people, bringing more awareness to the Aboriginal people and serving as a bridge between the two groups.[6]

In the early 1980s, Marawili began painting, incorporating the idea of buwuyak (invisibility) in his works, which was an innovative change in the Yolngu art tradition. His paintings often show the Yathikpa ancestral story of the bay where Bäru turned into a crocodile from a human figure. With works that capture both innovation and tradition, Marawili has become one of the most significant artists from the Yolngu community.[7] Because his works capture tradition and historical meanings, the paintings of Marawili are also used as a source of history and records, especially in the legal battle to protect the right of the Yolngu land.[6] His paintings that portray sacred traditional designs demonstrates the right and purpose to speak for and protect their sea and land. Because of this reason, this portrayal shown in the Saltwater: Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sea Country exhibition played a significant role in the Blue Mud Bay case where Marawili arranged for the Sea Right claim to the Federal Court in 2004. Eventually, the case went up to the High Court, and they gave Yolngu the ownership of the land between high and low mark.[1]

Marawili has also won numerous awards with his significant paintings. In 2019, he won the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) with Journey to America, a stringybark piece. In 1996, Marawili had won a NATSIAA award previously with another bark painting.[8]

Outside of his life as an artist, Marawili has served in many leadership roles to support and bring an awareness to the Indigenous community. Since 1998, Marawili continues to serve as the Arnhem Northern and Kimberley Artists (ANKA) Chairperson. In addition to serving as the ANKA Chairperson, his roles and involvements include: Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, Yirrkala Chairperson (1994-2000, 2016-2018); Laynhupuy Homelands Committee Chairperson (1995-1997, 2018); Northern Land Council Councilor (1995-1997); Nambara Homelands School Board Member (2001-present); Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, Yirrkala Board Member (2001-2016), Australia Council, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Fellowship (2003); Australia Council Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board (2008-2009); ORIC Governance Training for ANKA Directors (2008, 2013); Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre, Certificate II in Indigenous Leadership (2009), Australia Council Financial Skills for Arts Organisations workshop (2009), General Division of the Order of Australia Awarded Member (AM) (2010); YBE Enterprises Board Member; Yipara - Laynhupuy Homelands CDEP Supervisor.[1]

• Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow Scotland
• JW Kluge Collection, Virginia, USA
• President of India Art Collection
• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
• National Maritime Museum, Sydney
• Northern Territory Supreme Court, Darwin
• Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
• Holmes a Court Collection and Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane[1]

• Saltwater: Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sear Country (1999-2001)[1]
• Buwayak-Invisibility in Annandale Galleries(2003)
• Source of Fire in Annandale Galleries (2005)[7]
• Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Queensland Art Gallery (2006-2007)
• One sun, one moon in Art Gallery of New South Wales (2007)[9]
• Larrakitj in Art Gallery of Western Australia (2009)[7]
• Australia in Royal Academy of Arts (2013)[9]
• Our Land in Art Gallery of New South Wales (2017)[10]

• Buku Larrnggay Mulka Centre. Saltwater: Paintings of Sea Country: the Recognition of Indigenous Sea Rights. Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Association with Jennifer Isaacs Publishing Pty Ltd, 2014.
• Dettman, Carol. Saltwater: Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sea Country: Recognising Indigenous Sea Rights. Buku-Larrngay Mulka Centre in Association with Jennifer Isaacs Pub., 1999.
• Djambawa Marawili AM. www.didgeridoo.hu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Djambawa-Marawili-AM.pdf.
• “Djambawa Marawili AM.” HARVEY ART PROJECTS, harveyartprojects.com/djambawa-marawili-am.
• “Djambawa Marawili AM: Where the Water Moves, Where It Rests.” Kluge, kluge-ruhe.org/collaboration/djambawa-marawili/.
• Marawili, Djambawa. Djambawa Marawili: Source of Fire 2003-2005. Annandale Galleries, 2005.
• “'Virtuosic' Yolngu Leader Wins Top Prize at National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.” ABC News, 9 Aug. 2019, www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-09/national-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-awards-winners/11401326.