Owen Yalandja
Biography
Kuninjku artist Owen Yalandja is a senior member of the Dangkorlo clan, the custodians of an important yawkyawk site. In the early 1980s, Yalandja learned carving from his father, renowned artist Crusoe Kuningbal who invented, in the early 1960’s the representation of mimih spirit in sculptural form for use in a trade ceremony called Mamurrng. Members of the Darnkolo clan have re-established an outstation community at Barrihdjowkkeng near a billabong that is a Yirridjdja moiety sacred site for the yawkyawk spirits. Yawkyawk or young spirit girls live in this billabong and their shadows can occasionally be seen as they humans who approach. They are girls who transformed into mermaid-like figures with fish tails. The identity of the Darnkolo clan is very much related to the Yawkyawk djang (dreaming) for which they have spiritual and practical responsibility. Yalandja and his brother Crusoe Kurddal followed their father’s legacy but over the years have found their own distinct styles.
In the early 1990s, Yalandja experimented with the dot patterns his father taught him, and created V shaped marks to represent the scales of the watery beings. As Yalandja says, “I make it [yawkyawk] according to my individual ideas. My father used to decorate them with dots. A long time ago, he showed me how to do this. But this style is my own, no one else does them like this.” Yalandja continued to innovate, “In the early 1990s Yalanja experimented with the patterns of dots taught to him by his father and created new arrangements; first in arcs to suggest scales, but later he developed small v- shaped marks to suggest individual scales.”1 Yalandja works exclusively with the kurrajong tree for carving and carefully selects trunks which can be thin and curvilinear to give his figures a sinuous appearance. Yalandja’s work is represented in major International collections and has been exhibited at major institutions both locally and globally including at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Australia, Melbourne Museum, Bargehouse Gallery, London and Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. His work has also been presented at the Venice Biennale, Biennale of Sydney and the National Australian Indigenous Triennial.
1. Taylor, Luke. 2005. “Manifestations of the Mimih.” In the Power of Knowledge and the Resonance of Tradition, ed. Luke Taylor, Graeme Ward, Graham Henderson, Richard Davis, and Lynley Wallis, 182-98.
earth pigments on Kurrajong, 222.3 × 34.9 × 14.4 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with the assistance of Barry and Helen Fitzgerald and NGV Supporters of Indigenous Art, 2011
© Owen Yalandja/Licensed by VISCOPY, Australia
Past Exhibitions
Solo
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2022 Owen Yalandja, Michael Reid Sydney
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2015 Owen Yalandja, Seva Frangos Art, Subiaco, Australia
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2011 Yawkyawk: Water Spirit Carvings from Maningrida, Rebecca Hossack, London
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2010 Owen Yalandja: Yawkyawk, Seva Frangos Art, Subiaco, Australia
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2008 Owen Yalandja, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2005 Owen Yalandja, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
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2004 Owen Yalandja, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2002 Owen Yalandja, Redback Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
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2000 Owen Yalandja. Water Spirit Sculptures from Barrihdjowkeng, Aboriginal & Pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW
Group
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2021 The Summer Collector’s Show 2022, Everywhen Artspace
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2020 Tarnanthi Art Fair, Lot Fourteen, Adelaide SA
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2020 Maningrida Arts & Culture, Michael Reid Galleries, 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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2020 Paris, Paris!, Art Kelch, Freiburg, Germany
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2020 Art Paris 2020, ARTKELCH @ Art Paris, Paris, France
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2020 The Magic of Black and White, ARTKELCH @ KUNSTWERK, Eberdingen-Nussdorf, Germany
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2019 Rendezvous, ARTKELCH, Freiburg, Germany
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2019 36th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
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2019 Sculpture Bolkkime – Sculpture Today : New Works from Maningrida Arts and Culture, Harvey Art Projects
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2019 art Karlsruhe 2019, ARTKELCH @ art Karlsruhe 2019, Karlsruhe, Germany
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2018 Mardayin - Aboriginal Art von Maningrida Arts, ARTKELCH, Freiburg, Germany
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2018 Mardayin – Aboriginal Art von Maningrida Arts, Art Kelch
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2018 From Coast to Escarpment: Spirit Worlds of Maningrida, Michael Reid, Sydney, NSW
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2018 Outstation, Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT
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2016 Owen Yalandja, Bob Burruwal, Jack Nawilil: New Yawkyawk Spirits and Sculptures, Annandale Gallery, Sydney, Australia
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2016 Sentient Lands, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW
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2015 Black Art / White Walls, Curated by Djon Mundine, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
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2014 Four Spirits from Maningrida, FireWorks Gallery
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2012 Dream Catchers, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney
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2012 Maningrida Group Show, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, VIC
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2011 Maningrida 2011 - Where the Dreaming Changes Shape, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, VIC
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2011 Shalom Gamarana Ngiyani Yana, Waterhole Art,Sydney, Australia
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2011 Maningrida Arts and Culture, Annandale Gallery, Sydney, Australia
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2010 Togart Contemporary Art Exhibition, Chan Contemporary Arts Space, Darwin, Australia
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2009 Menagerie, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, VIC
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2009 Orche - 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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2009 26th Telstra National & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
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2009 Spirit Beings and Ceremonial Lorrkon, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, VIC
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2008 Gungura - The Spiraling Wind, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2008 Melbourne Art Fair, Art Fair, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
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2008 Maningrida Survey, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
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2007 One sun, one moon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW
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2007 Spirit in Variation, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2007 Spirit in Variation Part II, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2007 rarrk, Bargehouse Gallery, London, UK
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2007 Culture Warriors, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT
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2006 Australian Aboriginal Art 2006/2007, John Gordon Gallery, Coffs Harbour, NSW
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2006 Lorrkons and Spirit Figures, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2006 23rd Telstra National & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
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2006 Untitled, Togart Contemporary Art exhibition, Darwin, NT
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2006 Dream Tracks, Aboriginal art of Arnhem Land, La Fontaine Centre of Contemporay Art, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
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2006 Sculptures from Maningrida, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
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2005 Aboriginal vision in Contemporary Australian Art, Wright exhibition space, Seattle, USA
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2005 Spirit Beings and Lorrkon, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, VIC
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2005 rarrk, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2004 Crossing country: the alchemy of western Arnhem Land art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW
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2003 Next Generation, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
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2003 The Visit, Annandale galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2003 People, Fire-Works Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
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2003 Dreamtime, contemorary aboriginal art, Cankarjev Dom Ljubljana, Slovenia
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2003 Mythological beings from Maningrida, Hogarth Galleris, Sydney, NSW
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2002 19th Telstra National & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
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2002 East + West, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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2001 In the Heart of Arnhem Land. Myth and the making of contemporary Aboriginal art, Musée del l’Hôtel-Dieu, Mantes-la-Jolie, France
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2001 18th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
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2001 Outside in: Research Engagements with Arnhem Land Art, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
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2001 Vital fluids, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra, ACT
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2000 Biennale Of Sydney 2000, Biennale Of Sydney, various venues at various location, NSW
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1999 Spirit Country: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Gantner Myer Collection,, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
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1999 My Country: Australische Aboriginal Kunst, Brandweer Kazerne, Utrecht, Netherlands
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1998 Spirits of the Dreaming Jarraman Arts Aboriginal Corporation,, National Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Sydney, NSW
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1997 Metamorphosis, Gallery Pizzi at Venice Biennale Palazzo Papadopoli, Venice, Italy
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1996 Dreaming: Aboriginal Art from Australia, Galerie Kouwenhoven, Delft, Netherlands
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1996 Dreaming: Aboriginal Art from Australia, Galerie Kouwenhoven, Delft, Netherlands
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1996 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, VIC
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1996 Maningrida Exhibition, Indigenart, Subiaco, WA
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1996 Spirits of the Dreaming, Raintree, Raintree Fine Art Gallery, Darwin, NT
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1994 Pitture e Sculture dell Australia Aborigena, Touring Italy: Spazio Krizia, Milan; Palazzo Butera, Palermo; Museo di Architetture e Scultura Ligure di Sant Agostino, Genova.
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1993 Group Maningrida Exhibition, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
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1993 The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
Collections
- Helen Read Collection, Darwin, Australia
- Aimee Proost Private Collection, Australia
- Laverty Collection, Sydney, Australia
- Artbank, Sydney, Australia
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
- Coopers & Lybrand Collection, Utrecht, Netherlands
- David Betz private collection, New York, USA
- Kluge Collection, Morven Estate, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
- Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
- Walonia Aboriginal Art, The Netherlands
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
- Macquarie Bank Art Collection, Australia
- Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia
- Museum of Aboriginal Art, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Gantner Myer Collection, United States of America
- William and Lucy Mora Private Collection, Melbourne, Australia
- Musee des Confluences, Lyon, France