Ivan Namirrikki - Aboriginal Fine Arts Gallery

Ivan Namirrikki

Ivan Namirrikki

Alternative Spelling: Namirrki, Ivan Namanyilk, Ivan Namunjdja

Born: 1961
Region: Central Arnhem Land
Community Centre: Maningrida
Outstation or Country: Marrkolidjban
Language Bloc: Bininj kunwok
Language: Eastern Kunwinjku
Local Group (clan): Kardbam clan
Social Affiliations: Yirridjdja moiety, Bulanj subsection

Medium/ Form: Bark painting, ochres on bark

Collections Held:
Artbank, Sydney.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
Djomi Museum Maningrida.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin

Exhibitions:
1983, Artists of Arnhem Land, Canberra School of Arts.
1988, Kunwinjku Artists, Beaufort Convention Centre, Darwin.
1989, Kunwinjku, Deutscher Gertrude Street.
2000, Sydney, with John Mawundjal
2000, The Seventeenth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin
2001, Germany with John Mawundjal
2001, The Eighteenth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin
2002, The Nineteenth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin
2003, The Twentyth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin

Ivan with his family and new house

Notes
Ivan is the eldest son of the late Peter Maralwanga, famous bark painter, whose works
hang in major art galleries and museums. An entire exhibition of Peter's work held in
Perth some years ago was bought out by the late private collector Robert Holmes a' Court.
Maralwanga taught both Ivan Namirriki and his four nephews to paint when the family lived
at an isolated outstation called Marrkolidjpan, between Oenpelli and Maningrida. Later
the nephews moved further towards Maningrida, but Ivan remained as guardian of the vast
traditional lands he has now inherited. He is also the ceremonial leader of his clan,
and the keeper of all the myths telling of the history and religion of the Kunwinjku tribe.

Ivan is now regarded as one of the foremost artists of the Kunwinjku tribe, and has reached
the level of fame accorded to his father, who painstakingly taught him how to paint the
complex designs of crosshatching, (rarrk), appearing on the bodies of the creatures he
depicts, using the brilliant colours which belong to the clan. The ochres are found in
secret deposits in the ground, the white colour comes from a clay site in the bush, and
black is charcoal from camp fires. His work is much sought after throughout the world.

Ivan's camp before the new house was built

Ivan has several children and when they reach the age of 15 or so he will start teaching
his sons how to paint on bark and on Arches Rives paper, so that the stories handed down
to him by his late father will never die out. He still hunts and fishes in the traditional
way, and has great obligations on him to look after all of Maralwanga's seven wives and
many children. It is incumbent on him to keep painting to supply all their needs and-to
keep improving his outstation. He helped his father grub out the trees by hand to form an
airstrip and to erect a windmill on the banks of the freshwater creek beside his camp, and
is anxious to improve the living conditions of his extended family by building houses better
than the bush shanties and corrugated iron dwellings at present on the site. He does not
drink liquor, and is a most conscientious and dedicated leader of his people.

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