Jack Nawilil
Biography
Mayali and Rembarrnga artist Kamarrang Jack Nawilil is a senior member of the Balngarra clan, who lives and works at Bolkjdam, an outstation located near Maningrida community in central Arnhem Land. A song man and cultural leader, he works across painting on bark, carved sculpture and ceremonial objects such as mularra (morning star poles), mako (didgeridoo), lorrkkon (hollow logs) and body adornments using feathers, native beeswax and hand-spun bark fibre string. Common subjects of his work include representations of significant spirit beings, such as wyarra (skeleton), wurum (fish-increasing) and namorrodo (profane) spirits, and important ancestors, including the female creator ancestor Ngalkodjek who travelled from Elcho Island in the East.
The narratives represented in Nawilil’s artworks are extremely complex and often antithetical to Western knowledge systems. His artworks reference and manifest multiple places, clans and events that span vast distances and timeframes. To audiences who are not initiated and socialised in bininj (Aboriginal) cultural practices and history, the true and complete meanings of these artworks cannot be fully grasped. His artworks challenge the viewer to grapple with a different way of being in, and understanding, the world.
Nawilil’s work is held in public and private collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. He has exhibited with commercial galleries around Australia and overseas for nearly four decades.
Artworks for sale
Past Exhibitions
Group
- 2023
Two masters of Maningrida Arts, Everywhen Artspace
- 2022
Spirit in Bark, Koskela Gallery Rosebery
- 2021
The Summer Collector’s Show 2022, Everywhen Artspace
- 2021
The 66th Blake Prize, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
- 2020
Tarnanthi Art Fair, Lot Fourteen, Adelaide SA
- 2020
Connected: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
- 2020
Maningrida Arts & Culture, Michael Reid, Sydney, NSW
- 2020
RESILIENCE: The power of the past today – Maningrida, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, BELGUIM
- 2018
From Coast to Escarpment: Spirit Worlds of Maningrida, Michael Reid, Sydney, NSW
- 2016
Owen Yalandja, Bob Burruwal, Jack Nawilil: New Yawkyawk Spirits and Sculptures, Annandale Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- 2012
29th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
- 2012
First Life – Unwordly Encounters, Chan Contemporary art space, Darwin, NT
- 2009
Ochre – A Study in Materiality, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
- 2009
Maningrida Group Show, Maningrida Arts & Culture Gallery, Darwin, NT
- 2008
Palya Art at Mary Place, Mary Place, Sydney, NSW
- 2006
Bangu Yilbara: Works from the MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
- 2002
Barks in the spotlight, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- 1999
My Country: Australische Aboriginal Kunst, Brandweer Kazerne, Utrecht, Netherlands
- 1996
Dreaming: Aboriginal Art from Australia, Galerie Kouwenhoven, Delft, Netherlands
- 1996
Maningrida Exhibition, Indigenart, Subiaco, WA
- 1994
Gemaltes Land: Kunst der Aborigines aus Arnhem Land Australien, Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Germany
- 1994
Maningrida Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
- 1989
Masterpiece, Fine Art Gallery, Hobart, TAS
- 1982
Aboriginal Art at the Top, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
Collections
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC
- Aimee Proost private collection, Qld
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Maningrida Collection, Sydney, NSW
- Walonia Aboriginal Art, Netherlands
- Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT