Reviews

The exhibitionary landscape for Yolŋu art from north-east Arnhem Land has been crowded of late. In 2021 Djalkiri: Yolŋu Art, Collaborations and Collections was the inaugural exhibit at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney. Its former Macleay Museum curators have a history of co-operative and Indigenous-led curation, reinterpreting a rich group of barks from the 1940s with the Yolŋu Elder Dr Joe Gumbula. In the 1980s Djon Mundine had commissioned collections from Milingimbi and Ramingining for the affiliated Power Collection; Djalkiri crowned these curatorial approaches with an innovative display. Currently, the new-look Potter Museum of Art’s inaugural exhibition 65 000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art has a strong presentation of Yolŋu art.