John Mawurndjul
Balang was born on 31 December 1951 in Mumeka, a traditional camping ground for members of the Kurulk clan, on the Mann River, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Maningrida.
[2] Born in the bush south of Maningrida, Balang has based his life on Kurulk clan lands that stretch between the Liverpool, Mann and Tomkinson Rivers.
Steeped in ancestral narratives and abundant in plant and animal life, the area features ancient rock art galleries that skirt the northern rim of the Arnhem Plateau.
[2] Balang was introduced to ritual painting in 1969 by his father Anchor Kulunba (c. 1920 – 1996) who taught him crosshatching and rarrk techniques associated with the Mardayin ceremony to honour the region's ancestral beings.
In ensuing years under the instruction of his older brother Jimmy Njiminjuma (1947 – 2004), he became a proficient bark painter developing expertise unique to this form of practice: the harvesting and preparation of the stringybark support, cartographic knowledge of sacred ochre deposits and skills to grind, mix and fix their coloured pigments, and the fashioning of sedge rushes into delicate single-strand brushes.
[4] Under Njiminjuma's watch, Balang was also introduced to long-established Kuninjku conventions dictating subject matter and its iconography, the characteristics of which have been explored at length by anthropologist Luke Taylor in his pioneering analysis of Western Arnhem Land art.
[3] Growing up during the late 20th century, Balang experienced an era when the government of Australia was beginning to have a greater reach into Arnhem Land; a phenomenon that influenced his art throughout his career.
These grid structures and the occasional exposures of the under layers of paint create a bir'yin' ("brilliance," "shining," "shimmering") effect, a quality of reminiscent of wangarr marr, or ancestral power.
In the beginning of his career Balang stuck to his roots through creating many images of important figures in Aboriginal art such as the rainbow serpent Ngalyod.
[17] For instance, in Madayin Ceremony (2000), Balang uses trianglular shapes hidden in a rectangular grid near the top of the work, similar to a body painting from the Kakodbebuldi region.
[14] In 2000, Balang's work was amongst that of eight individual and collaborative groups of Indigenous Australian artists shown in the prestigious Nicholas Hall at the Hermitage Museum in Russia.
[21] Mawurndjul's Mardayin at Milmilngkan (2006) ceiling mural inhabits the MQBJC's gift shop, however, the museum fails to properly attribute the work to him, a testament to the modern world's struggle to recognise indigenous art.
The exhibition highlights Balang's spiritual heritage, which is reflected in his art, and the paradox of bark painting as both an ancient and new form of artistic expression.
[22] The exhibition is arranged according to the moiety, the two ritual groups that divide a people, and the artist's request to not hang works in chronological order reflects the Indigenous sense of time.
The exhibition showcases BAlang's large-scale bark paintings, which he began making in the late 1980s after a dream and inspired by visits to art museums.
[20] Balang has been a major influence on contemporary Kuninjku artists, and he has tutored his wife, Kay Lindjuwanga and daughter Anna Wurrkidj, who are now accomplished painters.
[29] His works have been singled out for praise by many critics, including Art Gallery of New South Wales senior curator Hetti Perkins, and artist Danie Mellor.
