Banduk Marika

Not to be confused with Banula Marika or Bayulma Marika.

Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika AO (13 October 1954 – 12 July 2021), known after her death as Dr B Marika, was an artist, printmaker and environmental activist from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, who was dedicated to the development, recognition and preservation of Indigenous Australian art and culture. She was the first Aboriginal person to serve on the National Gallery of Australia's board.

Banduk Marika AO
Born	Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika (1954-10-13)13 October 1954 Yirrkala, Northern Territory
Died	12 July 2021(2021-07-12) (aged 66)
Known for	Art, environmental activism, preservation of culture
Style	Printmaking, bark painting
Parent	Mawalan 1 Marika (father)
Relatives	Wandjuk Marika (brother), Dhuwarrwarr Marika (sister), Yalmay Marika Yunupingu (sister), Bayngul, Laklak, Ruby Alderton (daughter)
Awards	Red Ochre Award, 2001 Telstra NAATSIA Bark Painting Award, 2005

Early life

Marika was born on 13 October 1954 at Yirrkala, north-east Arnhem Land,^[1] a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people, whose traditional land is Yalangbara.^[2] Her father, Mawalan Marika (1908–1967),^[3] was an artist and he taught her the techniques of bark painting.^[4] He was known for his talent and expertise in the technique known as rarrk, or cross-hatching.^[5]

Her siblings include brother Wandjuk Marika;^[1] and sisters artist Dhuwarrwarr Marika,^[6] and teacher-linguist/artist Yalmay Marika Yunupingu (who served at Yirrkala School for 40 years teaching "both ways" bilingual education until her retirement in 2023);^[7] also, Bayngul and Laklak.^[8]

Marika was educated at the mission at Yirrkala until the age of 15.^[9]

Marika was among a small group to be taught and supported by male relatives (including her father^[3]) to paint traditional creation stories, which were formerly only allowed to be done by men.^[10][5]

Artist Ruby Alderton is her daughter.^[11]

Artistic career

She moved first to Darwin in 1972^[1] (or 1974?^[8]), where she served as Secretary on the Northern Land Council^[5] until 1980. During this time she also worked as an Aboriginal field officer, youth worker at the YWCA, and became mother to four children.^[8]

She then moved to Sydney in 1980 to pursue her artistic career.^[9] She began printmaking in Sydney, which she preferred over painting for the rest of her career.^[5] In Sydney she also arranged exhibitions of Aboriginal art.^[8] In the mid-1980s Marika was artist-in-residence first at the Canberra School of Art (1985) and then at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia (1986).^[1][4][5]

In 1988, Marika returned to Yirrkala, to take up the role of manager of Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts Centre and Museum,^[9] and also became member of the Yirrkala-Dhanbul Community Council.^[8] She continued to travel for the purpose of artistic collaborations with other printmakers.^[5]

Djanda and the Sacred Waterhole (1988), a work commissioned by the Australian National University to commemorate the Australian Bicentenary, was created using linocut on paper, using six colours. It represented a story of great significance to the Rirratjingu clan, involving part of the complex storyline of the Djang'kawu at Yalangbara. She had special rights to use this story by virtue of her land ownership and position in the clan. The National Gallery of Australia bought one of the prints made by her, while another was purchased for reproduction in a book called Aboriginality.^[12]

She was also artist-in-residence at the East Sydney Technical College's school of Art and the Warrnambool TAFE.^[5]

Marika incorporated the stories of her clan in her artistic work, such as the Djan'kawu, the Wagilag sisters and the turtle hunters.^[5]

Marika, along with the Rirratjingi clan and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), worked together to publish Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu, launched at Government House, Darwin in 2009. The book examines many aspects of Yolngu culture, art, history, tradition, as well as their custodial relationship to land and the issue of copyright. The name derives from the supernatural ancestor siblings, the Djang'kawu, and includes artwork from three generations of Marikas depicting aspects of the story.^[5]

The Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu touring exhibition, instigated by Marika and developed with the assistance of other family members and MAGNT, opened at the National Museum of Australia from 7 December 2010. This was the first major survey exhibition of the Marika family's work, and covers around 50 named sites in the Yalangbara peninsula that were traversed by the Djang'kawu journey.^[13]

In 2017 she and Tiwi Islander Bede Tungutalum were chosen to design a set of four postage stamps with the theme "Art of the North" for Australia Post.^[14]

Exhibitions and collections

Her work has been shown in America, India, Egypt, Noumea and Singapore,^[15] and is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia;^[16][10] Te Papa in New Zealand;^[17] and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.^[18][10] In 2016, Trinity College, Melbourne acquired her Yalangbara suite of works on paper, and the Burke Gallery at the college mounted an exhibition of her work in early 2021.^[11] Five of her prints were shown in the Know My Name exhibition of Australian women artists in 2020-21 at the National Gallery of Australia.^[19][20]

Other work and roles

Film

She worked as a translator with Film Australia and on the TV series Women of the Sun.^[5][8][21]

She appeared in several films:^[5][8][21]

• Banduk (1985), directed by Di Drew;^[22]
• Cactus (1986), directed by Paul Cox and starring Isabelle Huppert;^{[23][24][25][26][27]} and
• Copyrites (1997), a documentary film about Aboriginal copyright (see also below).^[28][29]

She also appeared in Bride for all Seasons! (?) and the docudrama television series Flight into Hell (1985). She features in the ABC Television documentary film, Dream Time, Machine Time^[21] (1987^[30])^[8] along with poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, painter Trevor Nickolls and writer Archie Weller.^[31][32]

Indigenous intellectual property

Further information: Indigenous intellectual property

Banduk said in 1997:^[33]

...my brother and I were known to the family as the outcasts because we moved outside of our boundary and went out to an unknown territory that was known as the balanda world, white man's world. And he (Wandjuk) initiated the whole debate about copyright that is still being fought twenty years on.

1993–4 Copyright case

Further information: Carpets case

In 1993, it was found that Marika's print Djanda and the Sacred Waterhole (1988) had been reproduced without permission on rugs made in Vietnam and marketed by the Perth-based company Indofurn Pty Ltd.^[34][9] Marika joined with the two other artists whose works had been used, George Milpurrurru and Tim Payungka Tjapangarti, to seek reparations under the Copyright Act 1968 and Trade Practices Act.^[35] A total of eight artists took action against the company,^[9] in a case that became known as the "carpets case"^[36] and in 1994^[10] the Federal Court of Australia awarded damages of A$188,000 to the artists and ordered that the rugs be released to them. This was the largest penalty awarded for copyright infringement against Australian artists up to that time, and included compensation for cultural damage stemming from the unauthorised use of sacred imagery.^[35] However no damages were ever paid to the artists or their next-of-kin, because the company was declared bankrupt and wound up.^[37]

A documentary film called Copyrites (1997),^[28][29] examining copyright of Indigenous peoples' creations, featured Marika^[9] and fellow Arnhem land artist Gawirrin Gumana.^[28]

Other work on intellectual property

Marika appeared as a witness in 2019 case against Birubi Art for concealing the fact that their "Aboriginal" artefacts for sale were made in Indonesia, and not by Aboriginal artists. The Federal Court ruled against the company.^[38]

Land and language

In 1999 Marika started working towards attaining heritage listing status^[5] for the sacred sites at Yalangbara,^[10] which is part of her Rirratjingu clan land.^[9] The site was listed in 2003 on the Australian Heritage Commission's Register of the National Estate,^[5] based largely on her work done with Mawalan 2 Marika and anthropologist Geoffrey Bagshaw.^[13]

She gave the 2010 Eric Johnston Lecture on the subject "Land Management and Cultural Responsibility", a recording being held by the Northern Territory Library,^[39] and was head of the Mawalan Gamarrwa Nuwul Association, a local landcare organisation.^[8][21]

In 2014, Marika appeared in an SBS/NITV documentary series on Aboriginal Australian languages, called Talking Language, presented by Ernie Dingo.^[40][5]

Boards

Marika served on the boards of the National Gallery of Australia and the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, and ahe was also a member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council.^[9][5] She was the first Aboriginal person to serve on the NGA's board.^[12]

She was a board member of the Indigenous Art Code, a group of artists, curators, and arts and legal organisations working to outlaw fake Indigenous art.^[5]

Later life and death

In 2020, she said in a television interview:^[41]

Arts and country and environment are all one... And why are these three elements so important to protect today? It's an identification. It's you knowing who you are, where you've come from, where your ancestors are from. Without those ID, you are nobody. You don't exist.

Marika died on 12 July 2021, aged 66.^[10]

After her death, per Yolngu tradition, she is no longer referred to by her full name, but called Dr B Marika.^[42][11]

Honours and recognition

A colour photographic portrait of Marika taken by Anne Zahalka in 1990 is held by the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.^[43]

At the 2001 National Indigenous Arts Awards Marika won the Red Ochre Award for her work in the visual arts,^[44] the award having been created to recognise "outstanding contribution[s] to the development and recognition of Indigenous arts and culture.^[5]

In 2005, she won the bark painting prize at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards for the painting Yalangbara. She was assisted in painting the work by Boliny and Ralwurrandji Wanambi.^[45]

Her book, Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu, was joint winner of the 2009 Chief Minister's Northern Territory Book History Awards.^[46]

In April 2018 Marika received an honorary doctorate from Flinders University for "her remarkable contributions as a First Nations artist and cultural advocate for the Yolngu people".^[4][5]

Marika was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2019 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to the visual arts, particularly to Indigenous printmaking and bark painting, and through cultural advisory roles".^[47][15]

In 2020 Marika featured as one of six Indigenous artists in the ABC TV series This Place: Artist Series. The series is a partnership between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), in which the producers travelled to the countries of "some of Australia's greatest Indigenous artists to share stories about their work, their country, and their communities".^[48][49]

Also in 2020, she was honoured as Senior Territorian of the Year.^{[10][9][15][41]}

Works

• The book Gong-wapitja : Women and art from Yirrkala, northeast Arnhem Land (1998) includes "Story from Banduk".^[50][15]
• West, Margie K. C., ed. (2008), Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu, Charles Darwin University Press, ISBN 978-0-9803846-7-3

See also

• People with the surname Marika

References

1. Watson, Ken (2014). "Banduk Marika". Art Gallery of New South Wales. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019. [From] Ken Watson in Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2014
2. McLennan, Chris (9 July 2020). "Banduk Marika says ancestral stories retain their relevance today". Katherine Times. Katherine Times. from the original on 25 March 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
3. "Mawalan Marika". Art Gallery of New South Wales. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
4. . Flinders University. 11 April 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
5. Flinders University (17 July 2021). "Citation for the Award of the Degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa: Dr B Marika" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 30 August 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2021. Amended 17 July 2021 – update to name
6. "Dhuwarrwarr Marika". Australian National Maritime Museum. from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
7. James, Felicity (20 March 2023). "Yolngu elder and bilingual educator Yalmay Yunupingu retires from Yirrkala school". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
8. "Banduk Marika". Sites and Trails NT. from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
9. McLennan, Chris (15 July 2020). "Northern Territory's 2020 Senior Australian of the Year Banduk Marika's ancestral stories retain their relevance" (Video + transcript). Bega District News. from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
10. Fitzgerald, Roxanne; Toomey, Jade (16 July 2021). "Dr B Marika AO, trailblazing Yolngu artist and activist, dies aged 66". ABC News. from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
11. "In memory of Dr B Marika AO". Trinity College, Melbourne. 20 July 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
12. Janke, Terri (2003). Minding culture: Case studies on intellectual property and traditional cultural expressions (PDF). Study No. 1. World Intellectual Property Organization. pp. 8–27. (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
13. Marika, Banduk; West, Margie (7 December 2010). "Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu". Western Australian Museum. from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
14. "Art of the North". Australia Post Collectables. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
15. "Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika". AustLit. 10 February 2020. from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
16. "Tactility: two centuries of Indigenous objects, textiles and fibre: Marika, Banduk". National Gallery of Australia. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
17. "Banduk Marika". Te Papa Tongarewa | Museum of New Zealand. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
18. "Banduk Marika". National Gallery of Art. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
19. National Gallery of Australia. "Know My Name Book | Know My Name Publication". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
20. National Gallery of Australia. "Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
21. Kovacic, Leonarda; Lemon, Barbara (14 February 2019). "Marika, Marmburra Wananumba Banduk". The Australian Women's Register. from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021. First created 18 May 2005
22. Banduk at IMDb
23. "Cactus". Ozmovies. 4 September 1986. from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021. ... the casting of Aboriginal artist Banduk Marika as Robert's friend. She acts as a kind of sensible chorus,...
24. "Cactus (1986): Principal credits". Australian Screen Online. from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
25. Cactus at IMDb
26. Ellis, Rennie. "[With Paul Cox, Isabelle Huppert and Aboriginal artist Banduk Marika]" (Photos). State Library Victoria. Five photographs showing "Paul Cox, Isabelle Huppert and artist Banduk Marika... sitting at a table under the shade of some trees". from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
27. Caputo, Raffaele; Tanskaya, Alyssa (1995). Murray, Scott (ed.). Australian Film, 1978-1994: A Survey of Theatrical Features. Oxford University Press. p. 186-8. ISBN 978-0-19-553777-2. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
28. "Copyrites (1997)". Screen Australia. from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
29. Copyrites at IMDb
30. Moreton, Romaine. "Dreamtime, Machinetime". Australian Screen Online. from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
31. Penglase, Joanna (1989), Dream Time - Machine Time [Catalogue entry], A.B.C., from the original on 26 July 2021, retrieved 26 July 2021, Profiles four distinguished Aboriginal visual artists and writers - poet, Kath Walker; urban painter, Trevor Nickolls; writer, Archie Weller and bark painter, Banduk Marika.
32. Moreton, Romaine. "Dreamtime, Machinetime: A marriage of cultures". Australian Screen Online. from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
33. Anderson, Jane Elizabeth (September 2003). The Production of Indigenous Knowledge in Intellectual Property Law (PDF) (PhD). University of New South Wales. p. 272. (PDF) from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021 – via AustLII. B. Marika quoted in C. Eatock and K. Mordaunt, Copyrites, Australian Film Finance Corporation Limited, 1997.
34. "Art and Indigenous rights". National Museum of Australia. NMA. from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
35. Marika, Banduk; West, Margie (2008). Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu. Darwin, N.T.: Charles Darwin University Press. p. 159. ISBN 9780980384673.
36. Janke, Terri (February 1995). "Copyright: The Carpets Case" (PDF). Alternative Law Journal [and] Aboriginal Law Bulletin. 20/3 (1/72). (PDF) from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2021 – via AustLII.
37. "Case study 4: 'The carpets case'". NSW Educational Standards Authority. 1 May 2007. from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
38. Burke, Kelly (26 June 2019). "Queensland company fined $2.3 million for fake Indonesian-made 'Aboriginal' artwork". 7NEWS. from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
39. Marika, Banduk (26 November 2010), Land management and cultural responsibility (MP3 audio and MP4 video files), Northern Territory Library, hdl:10070/224578, from the original on 9 August 2020, retrieved 13 September 2020
40. "Talking Language with Ernie Dingo". Programs. 20 November 2014. from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
41. "Banduk Marika, NT Senior Australian of the Year". ABC Radio National. 7.30. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 16 January 2020. from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
42. Reece, Madeline. "Take 5: Dr B Marika". Flinders University. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
43. "Banduk Marika, National Portrait Gallery". www.portrait.gov.au. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
44. "National Indigenous Arts Awards | Australia Council". www.australiacouncil.gov.au. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
45. "Past Telstra NATSIAA Award Winners". Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. MAGNT. from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
46. "Chief Minister's History Book Award - Past winners". Northern Territory Library. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
47. "Banduk Mamburra Marika". Australian Honours Search Facility. Australian Government. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
48. Whitford, Maddie (13 April 2020). "Producers reflect on profound experience walking with Indigenous artists on country". ABC News. from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
49. "This Place: Artist Series". ABC iview. 6 March 2018. from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
50. Hutcherson, Gillian; Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (1998), Gong-wapitja: Women and art from Yirrkala, northeast Arnhem Land, Aboriginal Studies Press, p. 74-77, ISBN 978-0-85575-315-3

Further reading

• "Banduk Marika: Overview". Mentone Girls' Grammar School. Kerford Library. Library Guide. 16 March 2021.
• "The Marika family [Exhibition notes from Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu]". National Museum of Australia. 29 July 2019. Short bios of: Mawalan Marika 1 (c. 1908–1967), Mathaman Marika (c. 1920–1970), Milirrpum Marika (c. 1923–1983), Roy Dadaynga Marika MBE (c. 1925–1993), Wandjuk Djuwakan Marika OBE (1929–1987), Banduk Marika (born 1954), Dhuwarrwarr Marika (born c.1946), Wanyubi Marika (born 1967), Yalmay Gurrwun (Marika) Yunupingu (born 1956), Mawalan Marika 2 (born 1957), Jimmy Barrmula Yunupingu (born 1963) (son of Dhuwarrwarr Marika).
• "Vale Dr B Marika AO". Australia Council. 22 July 2021.

External links

• "Marika, Marmburra Wananumba Banduk, (AO) (1954-)", Trove, 2008

Photos

• Ellis, Rennie (1985). "Cactus' Banduk Manika" (Photos). State Library Victoria.
• Ellis, Rennie (1985). "Isabelle and Banduk 'Cactus'" (Photos). State Library Victoria.