DAVID BELL - MAALNG- NIGHT HERON
DAVID BELL
MAALNG- NIGHT HERON, 2008
32 x 38 x 14 cm
synthetic polymer paint and ochres on milkwood
REGION
Aurukun, QLD
PROVENANCE
Wik and Kugu Arts and Craft Centre, Qld
Cooee Art Leven, NSW
STORY
After the Aurukun Mission was established in 1904, many of the Wik and Kugu men, who had been forcefully relocated, were made to work in the mission sawmill. Formed was a very localised sculptural tradition, with ‘help’ from the carpentry techniques learned at the Aurukun Mission sawmill in the early 1900s.
"This bird likes to sit quietly near the sea shore. Sometimes they are among the mangrove edge. When night comes they like to catch fish when the tide comes in."
In 1904, the Aurukun Mission was established and the Wik and Kugu men were encouraged to work in the mission sawmill where they learnt carpentry techniques and this, along with their isolation, contributed to the development of a localized sculptural tradition built from its origins in the decorated clay figures that had first been noted by anthropologists as early as 1894.
EXHIBITED
Painting Words, December 2022, Cooee Art | Redfern
Metamorphosis Indigenous Sculpture, October 2011, Cooee Art Leven, NSW
Metamorphosis-Contemporary Indigenous Sculptures and Objects, October 2009, Cooee Art Leven, NSW
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, August 2009, Cairn's Indigenous Art Fair
I’Nageen Sculpture & Paintings from Aurukun, May 2009, Cooee Art Leven, NSW
ARTIST PROFILE
