Banduk Marika (2001)

Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika is regarded as one of Australia’s leading visual artists and campaigners for Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. Banduk is a  respected elder, artist, cultural leader, environmentalist, teacher and mentor.

Banduk is a member of the Rirratijingu clan, was born at Yirrkala Mission in North East Arnhem Land in 1954 and was taught to paint through observing her father Mawalan Marika, a noted artist, statesman, and ritual leader of the Dhuwa People at Yirrkala. After moving to Sydney in 1982 where she made her first prints, Banduk was invited to be artist-in-residence at the Canberra School of Art. She has actively pursued printmaking, focussing her linocuts and screenprints on representations of the traditions of her clan. These include stories of Djankawu, the Wagilag Sisters creation story and the Turtle Hunters.

In 1993 Banduk discovered that her work had been appropriated and reproduced by a West Australian carpet company without her knowledge or permission. She took successful legal action in the well-known “Carpet Case” which brought prominence to the rights of Indigenous artists.

Banduk continues to work in an advocacy role for the recognition of Indigenous copyright, having assumed positions on boards of institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, where her knowledge and expertise in the areas of Indigenous art, copyright, and cultural heritage issues are much appreciated.

Being an Elder and artist in her community, Banduk is regularly called upon to advise, negotiate and collaborate between Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures, as well as between traditional and contemporary practices. In 2000 she collaborated with Stephen Page as cultural advisor to the Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

Banduk has inspired and impressed the international market with exhibitions of her work in the USA, India, Egypt, Noumea and Singapore. She has represented Indigenous Australian art and culture on an international level, speaking at conferences such the Iroquois First Nations Conference of Indigenous Peoples in New York (1990).

In 2001, Banduk was awarded the Australia Council Red Ochre award. This award pays tribute to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artist who throughout their lifetime, has made an outstanding contribution to the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts, at both national and international levels.