User:Mhm9jm/Bardayal 'Lofty' Nadjamerrek

Early Life
Bardayal “Lofty” Nadjamerrek, otherwise known as Wamud Namok, was born around 1926 in the upper Mann River region of Western Arnhem Land to his father, Yanjorluk. When Bardayal was young, he and his family spent time traveling the plateau, “developing his detailed knowledge of the stone country”.

Early Career:
Nadjamerrek was first introduced to art, specifically rock art, by his father in the early 1940s. His early rock art style learning was influenced by the traditional rock art style of Western Arnhem Land. This area of Australia contains some of the oldest evidence and remnants of rock art.

With the influence of his father’s teachings, Nadjamerrek translated his knowledge into the practice of bark paintings, beginning his work in the public domain in 1969. He spent years of his apprenticeship observing the craft of his father and other men in his community paint on the rocky shelters and outcrops with natural ochres and pigments.

During World War 2, Bardayal’s apprenticeship in art was put on hold as he was indentured to timber cutting service for the war effort. Years later he continued to work in the non-artistic sphere, taking jobs as “a miner, stockman, buffalo shooter and market gardener.” Even though his art career was put on hold, Bardayal remained increasingly active in the ceremonial activities of his clan, further strengthening his ties to traditional culture which will later be seen in his paintings.

Bardayal Nadjamerrek and Community
In his later life, Bardayal came to be one of the most respected elders not only in his clan, but also in the Western Arnhem Land region. In the 1970s, he was a main contributor in helping Indigenous families return to their traditional lands and establishing six outstations.

After almost 2 decades, he was finally able to return back to his own clan estate. Unfortunately, during his time away the Australian government halted stage funding for outstations. With his prior experience with other clans, Nadjamerrek created the Kubulwarnamyo outstation by himself in the mid 1990s. This outstation attracted various kinds of people from other parts of Australia and the world, including anthropologists, linguists, botanists, ecologists, and art historians, who came to learn more about the vast landscape of Arnhem Land. Nadjamerrek served as an encyclopedia for all knowledge pertaining to his culture and Arnhem Land, promoting Indigenous land management, culture, and heritage to all new people traveling to the landscape.

Later Artistic Career
Bardayal Nadjamerrek is widely regarded as one of the greatest “abstract” Indigenous Artists by outsiders, but within his community he is highly recognized as a pioneering contemporary artist. In 1969, he formally began his artistic career painting at the Church Mission Society’s Oenpelli mission under the linguist Peter Carroll. While this was the beginning of his professional career, Bardayal had decades of experience observing rock-art galleries and his elders.

He continued his bark paintings through the later half of his life, perfecting his craft and style with cultural ties before finally retiring from painting in the early 2000s.

Painting and Style
He was highly influenced by various styles, including his father’s and relatives’ artworks and those more ancient from the Kunwinjku people rock art and “mimih” spirits. Many of Bardayals paintings are reminiscent or even replicas of art found on the rock walls from hundreds of years prior. His work, however, is incredibly original stylistically and in quality.

Bardayal painted using natural pigments and ochres, traditional stylistic elements of Aboriginal art, on a few different mediums, including Eucalyptus bark, paper, and canvas. His style resembled that of rock painting from the paintings of his ancestors found in the landscape. By the late 1980s, he had perfected his style both resembling his culture and his own personal take. Most of the work by Bardayal experiments with iconographic figures, such as the Ngalyod or Rainbow Serpent and other animals significant in Aboriginal culture. These images painted are different from other Indigenous artists in the way that they are not just static. Bardayal’s style of painting portrays these images in a narrative way creating a dynamic tension and feeling of movement captured in time.

Nadjamerrek’s art only used single line rarrk style, unlike those that followed who relied on the more modern cross-hatching technique. His rejection of cross hatching solidified his distinction as one of the few great elder artists of Western Arnhem Land.