Literature in our Collection
(M-Z)

Mundine, Djon: The Native Born. Objects and representations from Ramingining, Arnhem Land, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 1996, ISBN 1875632441

Table of Contents        ¦         Cover Text        ¦         Book Review

Table of Contents

Mick Dodson: Foreword -6-

Elizabeth Ann MacGregor: Preface -10-

Djon Mundine: Acknowledgements -14-

Bernice Murphy: Aboriginal art within the Museum of Contemporary Art -17-

Djon Mundine: The Native Born -29-

John Rudder: The world of the Yolngu: the people of north-east Arnhem Land -113-

The Plates

Gulunbuy, From the Waterholes -130-

Larrtha'puy, From the Mangroves -152-

Rangipuy, From the Oceans and Beaches -166-

Diltjipuy, From the Forests -178-

Retjapuy, From the Jungle -198-

Ninydjiya, From the Plains -208-

List of works -218-

Index -239-

Cover Text

This book is inspired by a collection of Aboriginal art in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, comprising over 200 works by artists from Ramingining in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Bernice Murphy's introduction focuses on the history of this collection and Aboriginal art within the MCA, and the broader issues relating to the custodianship of Aboriginal art. Djon Mundine's major essay provides a broad social and historical context to this collection, as well as a first-hand perspective on the life, environment and art of Ramingining and the effects of contact with non-indigenous culture - with pastoralists, missionaries, collectors, teachers, and anthropologists. John Rudder writes about the Aboriginal (Yolngu) conceptual reading of the world through a variety of classificatory systems. He shows how these systems reveal a concern with the relationships between all things - plants, animals, humans and places - and with both the practical and spiritual identity of things. The book includes over 100 colour plates of paintings and sculptures from the collection, as well as photographs of the natural environs around Ramingining. There are numerous portraits of the artists and illustrations to contextualise each essay, as well as a fully illustrated catalogue list of works in the Ramingining Collection.