Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples are advised that this document mentions names of deceased people.
Celebrate the opening of the exhibition Mapa Wiya (Your Map’s Not Needed): Australian Aboriginal Art from the Fondation Opale on Friday, September 13 from 6–9 p.m. Join us for an evening of music and dance performances. Food trucks will be available.
Schedule of events
6 p.m.
Foyer
David Williams, a descendant of the Wakka Wakka people from central southwest Queensland, will play the didgeridoo, a wind instrument originating from Arnhem Land in Northern Australia.
7 p.m.
Front Lawn
Stanley Gawurra Gaykamangu, a Yolngu artist hailing from Milingimbi (Yurrwi), North East Arnhem Land, will present a vocal performance.
8 p.m.
Choreographer and dancer Amrita Hepi, from Bundjulung, Australia and Ngapuhi, New Zealand territories, will present An Occupation, an outdoor installation which is part sculpture and part performance.
This event is free and open to everyone.
Participating food trucks
Bowled Up
Soulcat Cuisine
Smoosh Cookies Ice Cream
Vegan Ice Cream
Beer and wine will be available for sale from Berryhill (only ages 21+ may purchase and consume alcoholic beverages).
About the exhibition:
The Menil is pleased to present Mapa Wiya (Your Map’s Not Needed): Australian Aboriginal Art from the Fondation Opale. Meaning “no map” in the Pitjantjatjara language of the Central Australian desert region, the exhibition title is drawn from a recent drawing by artist Kunmanara (Mumu Mike) Williams (1952–2019), the first showing of his work in an American art museum. His recuperation of official government maps and postal bags is a pointed response to the foreign cartographies of the country that Australian Aboriginal peoples embody.
Reflecting on the long history of art making and different ways of Aboriginal peoples, Mapa Wiya highlights work created after the 1950s and includes more than 100 contemporary paintings, shields, hollow log coffins (larrakitj or lorrkkon), and engraved mother of pearl (lonka lonka or riji) held by the Fondation Opale in Lens, Switzerland, one of the most significant collections of Aboriginal art.
