At the National Gallery of Australia’s 25th birthday and launch of the first Indigenous triennial Culture Warriors the two Ramingining elders and stars of Rolf de Heer’s recent film Ten Canoes Phillip Gudthaygudthay and Peter Minygululu suffered bravely in the chilly weather. Gudthaygudthay (which in his language means native cat, hence his misleading sobriquet “Pussycat”) was the recipient of the major Australia Council Indigenous Artist Fellowship this year, and his paintings and hollow logs on the theme of the ancestral story of the Wagilag Sisters are the first thing you see in the first gallery.
Minygululu is seen here with ANU Dean of the College of Arts and Social Sciences Nic Peterson, whose life he saved some thirty years ago when the young anthropologist was helped to walk through the crocodile infested Arafura Swamp from Mirrngatja to safety at Nangalala and Milingimbi with a bursting appendix.
Want to see more of the night’s festivities? Go to the Kelly gang
And for the ArtWranglers heart-stopper: see some of Ricky Maynard’s wall of photographs, at tasphotos
