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.
Jack Nawilil, Namorroddo. Paperbark, bush string, natural pigments, beeswax, feathers, 185 x 8 x 8cm. Courtesy the artist and Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory.
Past Exhibitions
Group
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2022 Spirit in Bark, Koskela Gallery Rosebery
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2021 The Summer Collector’s Show 2022, Everywhen Artspace
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2021 The 66th Blake Prize, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
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2020 Tarnanthi Art Fair, Lot Fourteen, Adelaide SA
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2020 Connected: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
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2020 Maningrida Arts & Culture, Michael Reid, Sydney, NSW
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2020 RESILIENCE: The power of the past today - Maningrida, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, BELGUIM
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2018 From Coast to Escarpment: Spirit Worlds of Maningrida, Michael Reid, Sydney, NSW
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2016 Owen Yalandja, Bob Burruwal, Jack Nawilil: New Yawkyawk Spirits and Sculptures, Annandale Gallery, Sydney, Australia
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2012 29th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
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2012 First Life - Unwordly Encounters, Chan Contemporary art space, Darwin, NT
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2009 Ochre - A Study in Materiality, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
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2009 Maningrida Group Show, Maningrida Arts & Culture Gallery, Darwin, NT
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2008 Palya Art at Mary Place, Mary Place, Sydney, NSW
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2006 Bangu Yilbara: Works from the MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
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2002 Barks in the spotlight, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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1999 My Country: Australische Aboriginal Kunst, Brandweer Kazerne, Utrecht, Netherlands
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1996 Dreaming: Aboriginal Art from Australia, Galerie Kouwenhoven, Delft, Netherlands
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1996 Maningrida Exhibition, Indigenart, Subiaco, WA
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1994 Gemaltes Land: Kunst der Aborigines aus Arnhem Land Australien, Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Germany
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1994 Maningrida Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
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1989 Masterpiece, Fine Art Gallery, Hobart, TAS
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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