Buku Gallery
Vangele Ioannidis
It certainly feels weird to write about this now, as the event happened about 2 months ago, but I suppose its better late than never since this effort was definitely a major blip on my personal timeline.
I was mainly concerned about the structural integrity and safety of having 15 people moving around, climbing on and off a structure that was going to end up about 3 stories tall. Chris repeatedly assured me that he had it under control, and when the week before the festival rolled around, this claim was pleasantly confirmed. Chris had executed an amazing gallery edifice that was as much a piece of art as the aerosol works that would soon be dancing across its facade. I am lucky to work with talented individuals like Chris, (his business partner) Jensen, and their 2014 Buku Art Team.
The art of the Yirrkala area has developed a growing market ever since the township was founded as a mission by the Methodist Overseas Mission in 1935, and started selling local artworks. Evidence suggests that Yirrkala art played a major role in the appreciation of Indigenous art by non-Indigenous people.[1]
In 1976 Buku-Larrŋgay Arts was established by local artists in the old Yirrkala Mission health centre, after missionaries had left and as the Aboriginal land rights and Homeland movements gathered pace. A new museum was built in 1988 using a Bicentenary grant, and this now contains a collection created in the 1970s which illustrates clan law. It also houses the message sticks[2] which, after delivery by the anthropologist Donald Thomson, were instrumental in establishing peaceful talks during the Caledon Bay crisis in 1935.[3]
In 1996, extra gallery spaces and a screen print studio were built, and in 2007, The Mulka Project was added. This project comprises a collection of many thousands of historical images and films, and continues to create new digital art and images.[2]
The Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, formerly Buku-Larrŋgay Arts and also known as the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre and Museum, is a world-renowned art centre in Yirrkala. It is often referred to as Buku for short.[6][7] It is one of many Indigenous art centres across Australia, which support their communities and make them self-reliant. This type of centre is, according to art coordinator Will Stubbs, an Australian invention.[5] As of 2024[update], Buku-Larrnggay continues to be supported by the Commonwealth Government's Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support programme.[8]
As of 2020[update], the centre, greatly expanded, comprises two divisions: the Yirrkala Art Centre, which represents the artists exhibiting and selling contemporary art, and The Mulka Project, which incorporates the museum.[2] It is known for its production of bark paintings, weaving in natural fibres, larrakitj (memorial poles), yidaki, and many other forms of art.[9]
There is a stage called the Roy Marika Stage at the centre, which is used for the annual Yarrapay Festival. In June 2021, the festival was directed by Witiyana Marika, and featured the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band, Yothu Yindi, Yirrmal, and East Journey.[10]
The historic Yirrkala Church Panels were created in 1963 by Yolngu elders of the Dhuwa moiety (including Mawalan Marika, Wandjuk Marika and Mithinarri Gurruwiwi), who painted one sheet with their major ancestral narratives and clan designs, and eight elders of the Yirritja moiety, including Mungurrawuy Yunupingu, Birrikitji Gumana, and Narritjin Maymuru, who painted the other sheet with Yirritja designs.[11][12][13] They were discarded by the church in 1974, but were salvaged by Buku-Larrnggay in 1978. On 27 February 1998 they were unveiled by then prime minister John Howard, and were described by Yolŋu leaders as "Title Deeds which establish the legal tenure for each of our traditional clan estates".[11]
Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala is an exhibition mounted by the centre in collaboration with the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in 2024. Inspired by Djambawa Marawili and seven years in the making, it is the first major exhibition of bark painting to tour the United States. It is curated entirely by Yolŋu artists and knowledge holders from Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka, and is being exhibited around the country from 4 February 2024 to 5 January 2025. Maḏayin is a Yolŋu term meaning "sacred" and "hidden".[17]
The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne has been collecting bark paintings by Buku artists since around 2000, which are included in its significant collection of work by Yolŋu women artists.[14]
Activating the Art Museum: Designing Experiences for the Health Professions, the first book on this subject, offers an argument for collaboration between educators in art museums and healthcare professionals. Through descriptions of teaching practices, the authors bring us into the galleries along with participants to demonstrate the value of art museums in supporting humanism in healthcare for the benefit of both practitioners and their patients.
It includes advice on selecting meaningful and provocative works of art; models of responsive workshop design; compelling descriptions of gallery experiences; references to supporting medical literature; and the voices of medical students, physicians, and other health professionals.
This inspiring and practical resource, written by three respected museum educators, is grounded in their experience with multiple individual and institutional partnerships and in designing hundreds of gallery experiences for healthcare trainees and practitioners. This book will be valuable to educators, leaders, and policy-makers in museums and health care. These readers, as well as general audiences with an interest in art and health will be inspired by the potential of art museums to activate our empathetic imaginations and remind us of our shared humanity.
Ruth Slavin has thirty years of leadership experience in art museums, most recently as deputy director for education at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) where she initiated partnerships with faculty in medicine, nursing and social work. Since 2009, she has designed gallery experiences, workshops, and elective courses with and for physicians, residents, and medical students on topics including empathy, complexity and ambiguity in medicine, personal narratives in medical education, and mindfulness.
In this timely and inclusive new work, Slavin, Williams, and Zimmerman provide a holistic look at how thoughtfully designed art museum experiences are fostering well-being, empathy, and humanity among healthcare professionals, patients and museum practitioners. The creative and affirming personal narratives and practical applications in each chapter illustrate the value of art museums at a time when their innovative thinking and resources are needed more than ever.
The authors of Activating the Art Museum generously share their first-hand experiences and collective knowledge, providing an invaluable resource to the field of art and medicine. Bringing together museum-based activities and the research that supports them into a single source for the community is an exciting contribution to this growing discipline.
An excellent presentation of the ways art museums engage in innovative programs with health professionals by connecting the fields of art and medicine. Written by three renowned museum educators the publication offers keen insights into the need for thoughtful collaborations, approaches to teaching in the galleries and addresses important themes such as empathy, storytelling, nurturing wellness and more that give new insights to this important new field of interpretation.
Complementing their own reflections, Slavin, Williams, and Zimmermann have thoughtfully collected a compelling set of case studies, programs, and insights from art museum educators, medical practitioners, as well as healthcare and museum leadership. A must-read for anyone curious about the creative and inspiring ways to connect art with medicine, care, and healing.
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