Samuel Namunjdja

DATE OF BIRTH: 1965-08-10
LANGUAGES: Kuninjku
FROM: Mankorlod
COMMUNITY: Maningrida : NT
MOIETY: Yirridjdja
SUBSECTION: Bulanj
CLAN: Kardbam

Samuel Namunjdja was born in West Central Arnhem Land in 1965. A member of an artistic family, Samuel was taught to paint the stories of his clan by his father, Peter Marralwanga, a distinguished painter.

When in his 20s, Namunjdja won the Rothmans Foundation Award for Best Painting in a Traditional Media at the National Aboriginal Art Award in 1993. He followed up with a high commendation in 2003 by winning the Telstra Bark Painting Award at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2006.

Samuel held his first solo exhibition at Niagara Galleries in 2004, and has participated in more than 30 important group exhibitions as far afield as Slovenia, Japan, France, UK and USA since 1988.  In addition to being a regular finalist in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, he was also shown in the important cross-cultural Living Together is Easy a joint exhibition at the Contemporary Art Centre, Japan and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. His work was also included in the seminal Crossing Country retrospective curated by Hetti Perkins for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

A common theme of Samuel Namunjdja’s work is the kunkurra or wind dreaming.  These paintings depict not only the spiralling winds and cyclones common in Arnhem Land, but also refer to Bilwoyinj, a site near Samuel’s clan estate. At this place, it is said that a father and son, important creation beings known as na-korrkko in the Kuninjku language group, hunted and ate a goanna, leaving behind some of the fat which became the rock salt that can be found at the site today. Bilwoyinj is also the ceremonial ground for Yabbaduruwa, a major ceremony which is concerned with matters of initiation, land ownership and the cycles of regeneration of man and nature. Other favourite subjects are the mimi spirit figures, Ngalyod rainbow serpent and the Namarrkon lightning man. Namunjdja paints not only these traditional stories, but also looks to less sacred surroundings and everyday activities such as fishing for yabbies, and other animals and plants.

Namunjdja produces a particularly fine style of rarrk in the West Arnhem Land style.  His detailed application of the ochre creates a delicate and lyrical surface. There is movement, life and depth in the work.

The artist’s new bodies of work have been presented at Niagara Galleries in solo exhibitions since 2004. Most recently, Namundja’s work was curated into the Sentient Lands exhibition (2016) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.  His work can be found in numerous collections including the Kluge Collection in the USA, The Kelton Foundation in USA, Musee des Confluences in France and locally at the  Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria, and the Queensland Art Gallery.

Past Exhibitions
Solo

2015 Samuel Namunjdja, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
2010 Samuel Namunjdja, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
2007 Samuel Namunjdja, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2005 Samuel Namunjdja, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2002 Kardbam Namurungi – rarrk designs from the kardbam clan, Aboriginal and Pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW
2002 Samuel Namunjdja, Indigenart Gallery, Perth, Australia
2001 Samuel Namunjdja, Indigenart Gallery, Perth, Australia

Group – Selection of exhibitions

2018 Mardayin, Art Kelch, Freiburg, Germany
2016 Human/Animal/Artist, McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
2016 Sentient Lands, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW
2013 The Gallery of Air, Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, VIC
2012 29th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
2012 Blue Chip XIV, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2010 Best of Maningrida, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia
2010 Togart Contemporary Art Award, Chan Contemporary Art Space, Darwin, Australia
2009 During the Wet, Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, USA
2009 26th Telstra National & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2009 Orche – A Study in Materiality, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2008 African Muse, Ecorces recentes de Maningrida, Galerie Luc Bertier, Paris, France
2007 rarrk, Bargehouse Gallery, London, UK
2007 Blue Chip IX, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2006 Dream Tracks, Aboriginal art of Arnhem Land, La Fontaine Centre of Contemporay Art, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
2006 23rd Telstra National & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
2006 Peintures sur ecorce de Maningrida, African Muse Gallery, Paris, France
2005 22nd National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Arts Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
2005 After Crossing Country, a survey bark exhibition, Indigenart, Perth, WA
2005 Bark paintings and carvings from Maningrida, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2005 Aboriginal Vision in Contemporary Australian Art, Wright exhibition space, Seattle, USA
2004 Crossing country: the alchemy of western Arnhem Land art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW
2004 21st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum & Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
2004 Living together is easy, Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito, Japan
2003 Dreamtime, contemorary aboriginal art, Cankarjev Dom Ljubljana, Slovenia
2003 20th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
2002 Kuninjku, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, UK
2001 In the Heart of Arnhem Land: Myth and the making of contemporary Aboriginal art, Musée del l’Hôtel-Dieu, Mantes-la-Jolie, France
2000 Transitions: 17 years of the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; touring nationwide: Tandanya, Adelaide, SA; Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra, ACT
1998 Spirits of the Dreaming, National Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Sydney, NSW
1996 13th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
1993 The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
1992 The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Exhibition Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT

Collections

AIATSIS Collection, Canberra, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Laverty Private Collection, Sydney, Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, California, USA
Kluge Collection, Morven Estate, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Musee des Confluences, Lyon, France
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Agapitos/Wilson Collection, Sydney, Australia
Museum D’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon, France
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Australia

Artworks