DJON MUNDINE OAM

DJON MUNDINE OAM

Djon Mundine OAM is the Indigenous
Curator of Contemporary Art at
Campbelltown Arts Centre, Western
Sydney. As well as being a distinguished
pioneer Indigenous Curator with dozens
of major exhibitions to his credit, he is an
activist, artist, writer, critic and commentator.

Originally from the Northern Rivers of NSW - his father is Bundjalang and his mother Ngaku - Djon Mundine is a leading curator and art historian. A member of the Bandjalung people of northern New South Wales, Mundine has been involved in the visual arts since the late 1970s, working as Art Advisor at Milingimbi, Maningrida and Ramingining in the Northern Territory from 1979–95, with the majority of this time spent at Ramingining (1983–95), a small community in Central Arnhem Land located around 400 kilometers east of Darwin. While at Ramingining, Mundine initiated The Aboriginal Memorial (1987–88), a significant installation of 200 hollow log coffins or poles now held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. First shown in the 7th Biennale of Sydney in 1988, the year of Australia’s bicentennial celebrations, the installation included a pole for each year since European settlement, and commemorates the indigenous people who died while defending their land in the 200 years from 1788–1988.

In 1995, his last year at Ramingining, Mundine was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his services to the visual arts. Since that time he has worked as a curator and academic while he continues to be involved in collaborative art projects. In 2005–06 he took residence at the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) in Osaka, Japan as a Research Professor in the Department of Social Research, prior to which he was Senior Consultant and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. He has taught at the National Art School, Canberra and has held curatorial positions at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

Selected art projects he has been involved in include Djirrdidi (2008), a site-specific ‘wall painting’ collaboratively produced with Richard Birrin Birrin and David Dhalwarrpuy on the occasion of the exhibition ‘They are Meditating: Bark Paintings from the MCA’s Arnott’s Collection’ (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney); Bongu Sand Sculpture (2002), made with Jimmy Wululu for ‘The Native Born’ exhibition at Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany; and Ngaraka:

Shrine for the Unknown Koori (2001), with Fiona Foley, created as part of ‘Shrines for the New Millennium’, a Cultural Program initiated by the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG ). In Ngaraka, which since 2001 has been part of the Australian National University Sculpture Walk in Canberra, the artists refer to the funereal tradition of wrapping deceased people in paperbark and elevating the shrouded body on a raised platform. Mundine and Foley’s public sculpture uses kangaroo bones to represent human bones, and is a memorial to the Indigenous people whose bones were removed following European colonisation.

The Song of Bennelong and Pemulwuy (2010) has been conceived by Djon Mundine as a gift from the freshwater Tharawal people to the saltwater Gadigal people. It follows an age-old practice of art creation as ritual exchange; a gift from the Aboriginal communities of South-western Sydney to the Gadigal people, the traditional owners of Bennelong Point. Signifying two great themes of Aboriginal history since 1788 – engagement and resistance – The Song of Bennelong and Pemulwuy is based on enlarged figures of men from traditional rock art, which will be carved into the tall rock face on Tarpeian Way, a part of the Royal Botanical Gardens and situated opposite the Sydney Opera House. This project will stand as a permanent Aboriginal memorial to Pemulwuy (c. 1750–1802) and Bennelong (c. 1764–1813).

Djon loves to return to his country and is avid supporter of Northern Rivers artists.

Selected Projects

2008 ‘Premier State’ (exhibition curator), Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown, Australia 
2008 ‘Djirrdidi’, with Richard Birrin Birrin and David Dhalwarrpuy for ‘They Are Meditating: Bark Paintings from the MCA’s Arnott’s Collection’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia 
2007 ‘Black2Blak’ (exhibition curator), Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown, Australia 
2007 ‘Sunshine State – Smart State’ (exhibition curator), Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown, Australia 
2004 ‘BLAK INSIGHTS : Contemporary Indigenous Art from the Collection of the Queensland Art Gallery Collection’, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia (exhibition curator with Avril Quaill and Dianne Moon) 
1996–2003 ‘Native Born: Objects and Representations from Ramingining, Arnhem Land’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (travelling exhibition)

Djon’s Writing/Critical Style:

·         Djon Mundine has been called a ‘traditionalist’ with regards to his adherence to, and advocacy of, Indigenous cultural and societal protocols.

·         Mundine writes regularly on issues of Indigenous and Postcolonial politics addressed in and associated with Indigenous Australian art.

·         He employs his critical voice to stir and contribute to discourse without dictating terms to the reader. An example of this is the 2010 article for Artlink titled ‘Nowhere Boy’ where the ethics of contemporary artist Brooke Andrew’s practice are examined.

·         His writing style could be described as authoritative and instructive. In addition, Mundine doesn’t fluff around when introducing new points- he simply butts them up against each other in the body of an article. It could be suggested that this reflects an informal conversation style.

·         He makes regular use of direct quotes in his writing to reiterate points of argument.

·         Mundine devotes a lot of his word count to establishing an artist’s backstory and biography; this gives greater coverage to individual artists and places them in context within the arts industry.

·         Mundine’s use of language is not characteristically dense or academic. He chooses language which is unintimidating, this allows the reader to realize his arguments and engage with his concepts.

·         With regards to description, analysis and interpretation of artworks in his critical writing, Djon Mundine doesn’t describe artworks often and typically doesn’t interpret works for the reader. While he makes reference to titles, Mundine does not commonly discuss the aesthetic qualities of artworks in his articles.

·         Judgement comes late in Mundine’s articles, usually in last paragraph.

·         Humour and sarcasm has been employed by Mundine to moderate his judgement of a scenario, ie. reference to the movie ‘Zoolander’.

We’ve come to the conclusion that he is a bit of a dude really…

Dale & Eryn