N'YETTIN-NGAL WAGUR – YEYE WONGIE [ANCESTORS BREATH – TODAY TALK]
Power / Resistance: the Carrolup Child Art Movement and Noongar Art Today
Through their art practices, Amanda Bell, Brett Nannup, Lea Taylor, and Tyrown Waigana construct unique acts of resistance. Each artist holds space for past and future Noongar artists to coexist and collaborate, making their resistance sustainable and robust. They are ensuring Noongar art is true and sovereign.
N'yettin-ngal Wagur – Yeye Wongie allows the legacy and influence of the Carrolup Child Art Movement to be told through contemporary Noongar art. The truth of the Carrolup story continues in many ways today, with its artistic legacy shining through many Noongar artists – past, present and future. Each artist spent considerable time with the Carrolup works and ephemeral material. This allowed them to explore the critical themes that sit within and alongside the Carrolup Native Settlement, including the treatment of young Aboriginal people during colonisation.
Evolving from his mother’s long-standing practice, Brett Nannup continues to contribute to the legacy of Noongar printmaking whilst paying homage to the Carrolup boys, like Revel Cooper and Reynold Hart, who created designs intended to be made into glass plates. Brett has employed similar design elements and combines his own patterns and lines, highlighting Noongar marriage systems, shields, body paint designs, and his mother’s crochet rugs. Brett’s personal history holds a direct connection to Carrolup –his mother was born at Carrolup Native Settlement and later taken to Wandering Mission. Through his own family’s trauma, Brett’s prints seek to embody the pain and suffering endured by the Carrolup artists.
The Carrolup Native Settlement school ultimately became a place of resistance during Mr Noel White’s time, between 1946 and the school's closure in 1950. Mr White allowed the children to draw what they saw at the Settlement, creating what we know today as the works that form the Carrolup Child Art Movement. The Department of Native Affairs was opposed to Mr White’s practices with the imprisoned children, especially after their works were noticed at agricultural shows. They caught the eye of philanthropist Florence Rutter, which
meant the works would eventually be collected internationally. Mr White’s resistance to removing the children from culture ensured their legacy was not forgotten.
Amanda Bell unapologetically interrogates colonisation through her work. With delicate fabric and poetic lines, Warniny Ngaangk –Stitching My Mother, Stitching My Sun bleeds the untold stories of the girls at Carrolup. Often overlooked, the embroidery is essential in documenting their lives at the Settlement. The embroidery highlights the fauna and flora they were educated about, not necessarily the species surrounding the Settlement. With small stitches, each mark is made with the patience of a hurting child.
Although not forgotten, many of the children’s works are not attributed. This means the works were once known to the artist and their community, but they were not afforded care due to the children being Aboriginal and living on the Native Settlement. Tyrown Waigana explores the idea of the unknown artists through his series of digitally illustrated, faceless figures. Drawing on the materiality of the Carrolup drawings on paper, Tyrown has printed his illustrations onto a thin, poster-like paper. This reiterates the lack of care given to the children, while remembering that the drawings allowed a short period of hope for the children who were tragically severed from family and culture. The unknown artists’ works are uncomfortable and sad to engage with, and Tyrown emulates these feelings through his characters. Exploring the unknown works is a crucial part of the Carrolup history, as a story of Stolen Generations, and Tyrown’s large-scale illustrations encapsulate the yarn.
Dandeedeen wer Wilgi – Sew up and Paint, plays on ways that Aboriginal people have historically been represented as flora and fauna. By interpreting the handdrawn books by the children into a multi-panel work, Lea Taylor explores Noongar animals and plants endemic to Carrolup and around her home. Lea is a strong cultural leader, particularly through her work in public art and community workshops. Throughout Whadjuk Boodja, you find Lea’s work connecting back to Country and Community, ensuring our stories are told in accessible ways.
Accessibility to culture and story through art is integral for Aboriginal people. The children of Carrolup and similar institutions across Australia did not have access to their own culture under Government policies of forced assimilation. The Carrolup story and artwork must be accessible to community and family. It is vital that access is expanded beyond the walls of a gallery or storage facility.
Zali Morgan
