Paddy Compass Namadbara
Paddy Compass Namadbara (also spelled Namatbara or Nabadbara), skin name Na-Bulanj,[1] was an Aboriginal Australian artist and traditional healer, or marrkidjbu, from western Arnhem land.
[9] Namadbara belongs to what Howard Morphy terms the "Croker Island School" artists, many of whose works are hard for the untrained eye to distinguish from each other.
Many of Namadbara's bark paintings have a dynamic energy that depict figures associated with sorcery and magic, and often are highly sexual in nature.
Namadbara’s early work, Saratoga 1947, is an excellent example of the emphasis on fish and their symbolic significance in western Arnhem Land.
[12] Yirawala was a leading artist on Croker Island in western Arnhem Land, who had a strong influence on the development of Namadbara’s work in the 1950s and 60s.
Yirawala encouraged particular themes in his bark paintings, particularly ancestral spirits, legendary figures, and some form of religion or sorcery.
"[2] As a marrkidjbu and cultural leader, Namatbara devised rituals, practiced sorcery, announced visions, gave advice, and provided healing.
[1][14] Apart from being a markidjbu and community leader, he was also an effective mediator between Aboriginal people and outsiders, working with Ronald and Catherine Berndt in the 1940s and 50s and Karel Kupka in 1960 and 1963.
Although he began as a healer, he grew to assume a leadership role, providing certainty, guidance, and mentorship during times of struggle and change.
Jacob Nayinggul and Thompson Yulidjirri are among the young men of the region who were taken under Namadbara's wing and initiated into the traditions of Bininj.
Yulidjirri became a mentor to a number of young artists at the Injalak Arts Centre and has been credited as a "formative influence" in the painting career of Maralngurra.
On a global scale, it helps the people better understand the significance and ongoing cultural links to these works and this unique Australian heritage.
In 1995, the stories were recorded by Big Bill Neidjie, Bluey Ilkgirr, Jacob Nayinggul, Jim Wauchope, Johnny Williams Snr., Ron Cooper, Thompson Yuludjiri and others.
This book provides a complete biography of Namadbara's renowned powers of healing, sorcery, spirit possession and visionary knowledge.
Namadbara worked intimately with Baldwin Spencer to assemble the first collection of indigenous bark paintings from western Arnhem Land.
Dorothy Bennett, Karel Kupa, Charles Mountford, and Ronald and Catherine Berndt represent a few of the most active anthropologists of the time in terms of their interest in Arnhem Land.
Ronald and Catherine Berndt were Australian anthropologists who engaged in extensive anthropological research during the 1940s and 50s in Arnhem Land, during which Namadbara acted as an informant, offering vital knowledge of landscape and culture in the Croker Island region.
In the early 1960s, Namadbara participated in similar work, helping Karel Kupka conduct research on Aboriginal art in western Arnhem Land.
During his time in Arnhem Land, Kupa influenced Paddy and his friends to create paintings that were connected to the spirituality of their culture and to the depiction of themes of sorcery and spirit figures, which had been suppressed by the Methodist missionaries, leading Namadbara to focus his work at the mission on spiritual images related to his cultural upbringing on Croker Island.
[17] In 1967 Namadbara was interviewed by Lance Bennett, a researcher who came to Minjilang to collect bark paintings and data for his book on contemporary Aboriginal art.
[18] He spoke specifically about one of his works that features barramundi, a swamp hen, and a black bream and painted hand stencils.
