Marking the Infinite:
Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia
- DurationAugust 20 – December 21, 2016
- Works byNonggirrnga Marawili, Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati, Angelina Pwerle, Carlene West, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Lena Yarinkura, Gulumbu Yunupingu, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu
- Organized ByWilliam Fox and Henry Skerritt
Hailing from remote areas across the island continent, the nine artists in this exhibition are revered matriarchs, commanding leadership roles and using art to empower their respective communities. Their works are steeped in ancient cultural traditions, specific to each artist, and yet speak to universal contemporary themes, revealing the continued relevance of Indigenous knowledge in the twenty-first century.
The subjects of the works range from remote celestial bodies and the native bush plum’s tiny flowers to venerable crafts traditions and women’s ceremonies. And yet, each work grapples with the most fundamental questions of existence. Every mark bears testament to natural and cosmological cycles that put one’s being into perspective: whether the ebb and flow of sacred waters and ancestral sands, or the simple passage of a brush against canvas. Theirs are marks upon the infinite, asserting both our shared humanity and differences in experiencing and valuing the same planet.
Marking the Infinite originated at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada and was organized by William Fox, Director, Center for Art and Environment, and Henry Skerritt, Curator, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. The exhibition is drawn from the collection of Debra and Dennis Scholl and at Newcomb Art Museum was coordinated by Anna Mecugni, Curator and Coordinator of Academic Programming, and Monica Ramirez-Montagut, Director.
Press
- HyperallergicReview: “Aboriginal Women Artists and Their Visions of Infinity”
- BurnawayReview: “Aboriginal Women Artists Get Their Due at the Newcomb in New Orleans”
- New Orleans AdvocateReview: “Infinite Possibility: Australian Aboriginal Women’s Art Reaches Across the Miles”
- The GambitReview: “‘Marking the Infinite’ at Newcomb Art Museum”
- ArtDaily“Major Touring Exhibition of Australian Aboriginal Art Debuts at Tulane’s Newcomb Art Museum”
- Aboriginal Art Directory“Scholl’s Women”
- Crave“Secret Histories | ‘Marking the Infinite’ Power of the First Peoples of Australia”
- Women in the World, in association with NY Times“Australia’s Indigenous Women Artists Set to Make a Splash in Major U.S. Exhibition”
- Tulane New WaveReview: “Major Touring Exhibition of Australian Aboriginal Art Debuts at Tulane”
- Tulane HullabalooReview: “Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia”
- Inside the Arts | WWNO FMInterview: “Culture Collision 8, NOBA Unveils New Dance Season, Australian Aboriginal Art”