The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand extends its thoughts to family, extended family, the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre and the wider community of North East Arnhem Land for the loss of such a significant leader, artist and advocate for culture and Country.
In 2007 Mr W. Wanambi became a director of Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, where he was instrumental in the facilitation of the short film collection Nhama and the mentoring of young Yolŋu in media practices. In 2014 Mr Wanambi graduated from the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts at the University of Melbourne, specialising in Indigenous Arts Management and was a director of the Arnhem, Northern and Kimberley Artists Aboriginal Corporation (ANKA). He was the lead Yolŋu curator, researcher and writer for the exhibition Marḏayin: Eight Decades of Australian Aboriginal Bark Painting from Yirrkala. This will be the first international survey of Yolŋu bark painting drawn from international and national collections. The exhibition will also feature new works produced by artists at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre and is scheduled to begin its tour of the United States later this year.
Mr Wanambi was involved in The Saltwater Collection (now housed at the Australian National Maritime Museum) – a pivotal moment for land rights in Australia. Forty-seven Yolŋu artists from fifteen clans and eighteen homelands petitioned for sea rights by painting their Sea Country onto bark. A decade after their painting in 2008 the High Court of Australia confirmed exclusive Indigenous Sea rights to 80% of the Northern Territory’s coastline. The paintings were deemed the equivalent of title deeds to the sea rights of the coastal waters of Blue Mud Bay enabling Aboriginal people to achieve economic, social and political prosperity by allowing them to make decisions over the sovereignty of their Country.
Mr Wanambi began painting in 1997, reviving imagery inherited from his father relating to the Marrakulu Clan’s Saltwater Country. Mr Wanambi became an internationally acclaimed artist who was primarily known for his bark paintings and larrakitj (memorial poles). His first bark for the Saltwater Collection won the Telstra Bark Painting Award in 1998 at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards (NATSIAA) held at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. In 2003 his sculpted larrakitj received a Highly Commended in the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award and in 2018 he won this category for the work Destiny, an installation of three larrakitj with a digital component.
Mr W. Wanambi’s legacy, knowledge and commitment to Country and the arts will continue to live on through his work and the many people he has mentored and collaborated with over the years. His unexpected passing has left shock waves through the arts and cultural community throughout Australia and the Northern Territory. However, many of us have been fortunate to know and work with such a distinguished and inspiring cultural leader.