Two old artists looking for food: Painting as if through a veil
Moving image: Explore cultures and art making around the world
“This is the food we ate when I was young. Back then everywhere we looked there were old people. Strong and healthy – they lived with us for a long time”.
Duration
26.02
Director
Peter and Andrea Hylands
Cinematography
Andrea Hylands
Warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers that the content in this film contains images and voices of Indigenous people now deceased.
Creative cowboy films would like to thank: John Wolseley, Mulkun Wirrpanda, Jenny Long, Djambawa Marawili, Merrkiyaway Ganambarr-Stubbs, Nonggirrnga Marawili, Takeshi Kano (Mino City), Liyawaday Wirrpanda, Will Stubbs, Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Joseph Brady and the Mulka project team, Angus Cameron, Rose Cameron, Nomad Art Productions, Andy Greenslade, Dr Mathew Trinca, National Museum of Australia.
In this film we learn about the food plants of East Arnhem Land through the eyes, pen and brush of two great artists.
In 2009 Nomad Art Productions organised a cross cultural art project called Djalkiri: we are standing on their names. The project was based around the powerful and distinguished culture and environment of Blue Mud Bay in East Arnhem Land. It was here, and in Baniyala, that Mulkun Wirrpanda and John Wolseley met. And so it was, that in 2009, the artists from the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala and a group of western artists worked together, made lasting friendships and learned from each other, all of these things culminating in an exhibition at the Nomad Art gallery in Darwin.
In these companion films, John Wolseley and Yolŋu elder Mulkun Wirrpanda describe the role that the food plants of East Arnhem Land have in sustaining the wellbeing of Mulkun’s people.
“This is the food we ate when I was young. Back then everywhere we looked there were old people. Strong and healthy – they lived with us for a long time”.
This is also the idea that John describes and has so wholeheartedly supported in his great collaboration with Mulkun, the strength of which is so handsomely described in these films and the exhibition and book:
- Book - Midawarr I Harvest: The art of Mulkun Wirrpanda and John Wolseley
- Part 1: Painting as if through aveil
- Part 2: Living forms of the landscape
We are now at the end of 2017 and the friendship between Mulkun and John has continued to grow in strength (now brother and sister in the Yolngu way of these things). The Djalkiri project has also had a life of its own and has evolved to become a body of works, bark paintings and larrakitj from Mulkun and a large composite painting from John, that depict the teaming nature of the Northern Australian wetland system and specifically its food plants. The works of the two artists come together in the exhibition Midawarr I Harvest at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra.
Creative cowboy films’ role in all of this has been to document John’s painting as it evolved from early beginnings to completion. In all there were three trips to John’s studio as we travelled from Tokyo and on to John’s studio in the Whipstick Forest in Central Victoria. As for the cycle of life, John’s painting was created through the seasons, culminating in its harvest, the completion of the painting and its journey to Canberra and the National Museum of Australia.
In part one of this long journey, Painting as if through a veil, John describes the artists’ purpose in creating the body of works which sit so well together in their difference. We learn about Mulkun and John discusses the techniques and philosophy behind his own work. There are the usual engaging and amusing moments that we expect from John but there is serious purpose here that we should all come to know.
The exhibition also contains a short film, which is a combined work with our friends from the Mulka Project, who completed the final editing. As always it was a joy to work with them.
There is a lot to say and there is no one better to say it than John….
No items found.
Highlights from the documentary
No items found.
Related Documentaries
Two old artists looking for food: Living forms of the landscape
We tour John’s painting and learn more about the plants that now come to life on its surface.
WATCH FULL VIDEO
The smokers have taken the gold
We meet John Wolseley in a pub in a town called Rainbow and travelled back to his camp in the middle of Wyperfeld National Park.
WATCH FULL VIDEO
Within art and nature with John Wolseley
If we look closely at John Wolseley’s paintings, we will begin to understand how nature works. Here laid out before us on the arches paper is the intricate weave of nature.
WATCH FULL VIDEO