Injalak Arts

The demand for art and artefacts from the Gunbalanya area began long before the incorporation of Injalak Arts and Crafts. Since early European contact, several notable collections were created and much informal trade took place. The anthropologist Baldwin Spencer visited Gunbalanya in 1912 in his role as Special Commissioner for Aboriginals and Chief Protector, staying with Paddy Cahill, the founder of the cattle station in Gunbalanya.[3] He collected many bark paintings and fibre works, and Cahill continued to send him new works for the collection until around 1922.[4] The American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land arrived in Gunbalanya in October 1948, and its leader Charles Mountford commissioned many paintings on bark.[5] However, for him, as for Spencer, these were still ethnographic rather than art objects, a practice “comparable with that of our stone-age ancestors of Europe”.[6] Both the year before and the year after the Mountford expedition, the area was visited by the anthropologists Ronald M. and Catherine H. Berndt of the Australian National Research Council, working for Professor A.P. Elkin of Sydney University. They too created a notable collection.[7]

The market for Kunwinjku art began to expand from the late 1950s, largely thanks to major purchases by government institutions. The major collectors included Dorothy Bennett and Dr Scougall for the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1959-1966), the anthropologist Karel Kupka for the Basel Ethnographic Museum (1960), Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (1963), Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie (1963), and his private collection (now held at the National Gallery of Australia), as well as Helen Groger-Wurm for the Darwin Museum and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (1965–70).[8]

From the 1962 to 1974, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) marketed the “art and crafts” of Arnhem Land, selling them through a dedicated outlet in Sydney.[9] The fourth “classic” collection of art from Gunbalanya was gathered mostly through this source, by the Australian Aboriginal Arts Board.[10] By the 1970s, visiting collectors and casual visitors also comprised a ready market for West Arnhem Land art.[11]

The history of Injalak Arts began with a screenprinting group started in 1986. In that year, a representative of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme visited Gunbalanya with funding for people to participate.[12] Wendy Kennedy, a teacher who came to Gunbalanya in 1974, had in 1983 accepted a position as adult educator in Gunbalanya. She and a group of her students decided on trying screenprinting for the 'hobby' element required by the award. The screenprinter Ray Young was hired to assist, and with the women sewing, they were soon producing printed fabric, bags, calico skirts, baby wraps, nappies and singlets.[13] A number of the original participants in the Duke of Edinburgh's award, including Gabriel Maralngurra and Donna Nadjamerrek, are still involved in Injalak Arts to the present day, having become leaders within the organisation.

In 1988, the men of the group moved from the adult education centre to a shed near the community council office (the shed is now known as the old CDEP workshop). Around this time, the printers began moving away from generic figurative designs to designs influenced by the traditional style and subject matter of West Arnhem Land art. This raised the attention of elders and traditional custodians of the designs such as Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek. But while this could have led to conflict, it slowly developed into a system of cultural protocols around commercial painting still in play at Injalak today.[14]

The screenprinting group caught the attention of the Commonwealth Government's Community Development program, which was keen to promote local business. In 1986–87, discussions and consultations were held about expanding the operations of the group to become an art centre trading a range of artistic media. This was in the context of the rapidly expanding Aboriginal Art movement at the time. In 1988, the screenprinting group successfully applied for $500,000 in funding from the Commonwealth Government, which led to the building of the Injalak Art Centre where is stands today. It was incorporated on 12 April 1989.[15]

Art production picked up quickly following the creation of the new building. Screenprinting and sewing continued, and painting and weaving (primarily pandanus weaving) increased dramatically.[16] Wendy Kennedy stayed on until 1990, before handing over interim management to the screenprinter Ray Young. The first appointed manager, Felicity Wright, arrived in October 1991. Critical in the early days of the art centre was the senior painter Thompson Yulidjirri (d. 2009), who mentored the younger artists and developed Injalak as a place for the transmission of cultural knowledge outside the traditional venues.[17] Felicity Wright stayed on as manager until 1995, a time which saw increasing recognition for Gunbalanya artists. Samuel Namundja won the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award in the bark painting category in 1993. A series of managers between 1995 and 2001 included Andrew Headley, Matthew Johnson, Anthony Murphy and Paul Magin, until Anthony Murphy took up the position full-time again in January 2001.[18] Anthony Murphy remained as manager until 2010.[19] Lorna Martin arrived in August 2009 and remained as manager until December 2012. In December 2012 Injalak's first manager, Felicity Wright, returned and currently shares managerial responsibilities with Gabriel Maralngurra and Isaiah Nagurrgurrba (2014).

Injalak artists have acted as guides of Injalak Hill since the opening of the art centre in 1989. Injalak Hill tours began as informal service, with tourists hiring artists as guides for rates often organised on the day.[20] In 1992, a five-year plan for the art centre was formulated, with the Aboriginal governing body of Injalak expressing the desire to formally promote cultural tourism.[21] The main reasons highlighted were to facilitate the understanding of Kunwinjku art and culture, and to generate work and income. In the same year, a number of outside tour operators approached the traditional owners and Injalak to contract the services of Injalak guides. Some partnerships, such as those with Arnhem Land Explorer and Lord's Safaris, have continued to the present day.

As demand increased, tourists began to book in advance, and eventually by the dry season of 2000, about 10-15 tours were leaving the art centre for Injalak Hill each week.[22] Injalak currently runs three daily tours of Injalak Hill in peak season, with spaces shared between tour operators and free independent travellers. Tours are generally available from the early dry season(late April–May), with the hill becoming inaccessible again with the onset of the wet season (late November–December).