Djardi Ashley
Australian Aboriginal Artist
1987 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Djardi Ashley Other Spellings / Names: Djardi, Jardie, Tjardie, / Wodalpa Born: October, 1950 Died: 18 dec, 2007 Region: Ramingining, Country: Ngilipitji Language Bloc: Yolngu Language: Rittharrngu Local Group (clan): Wagilag Social Affiliations: Dhuwa moiety, Burralang
Medium/ Form:
Bark painting, ochres on bark ans arches paper, didjeridu.
Awards:
1987, First Prize, National Aboriginal Art Award, NT Museum of Arts and Sciences, Darwin.
1993, Interpreting Mabo Award, one third share, Botany Art Awards, NSW
Collections:
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Ramingining Collection, Sydney.
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth.
Exhibitions:
1986, Aboriginal Artists Gallery, Melbourne.
1983, Mulgurrum, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne.
1984, Djardie Ashley & Dorothy Djukulul, Aboriginal Artists Gallery Melbourne.
1984, Objects & Representations from Ramingining, Power Institute [now MCA], Sydney.
1986, Ramingining Art Exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT.
1986, Biennale of Sydney, Ramingining Performance Group dancer.
1987, Bark Paintings from Ramingining, Birukmarri Gallery, Perth, WA.
1987, Art and Aboriginality. Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK.
1987, The Fourth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin. 1988, Biennale of Sydney, Aboriginal Memorial, Pier One, Sydney. 1988, ANCAAA and Boomalli, Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Ko-operative, Sydney.
1989, Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia,Canberra
1989, The Sixth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin
1990, Balance 1990: views, visions, influences, QAG, Brisbane.
1990, Keepers of the Secrets, Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland, Art Gallery of WA, Perth.
1992, Crossroads-Towards a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia, National Museums of Modern Art, Kyoto and Tokyo.
1992, The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1993, Botany Art Award, Botany Council NSW.
1993, The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin.
1994, Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria.
1994, The Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin.
1994, Art of the Rainbow Snake, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Select Bibliography:
ANCAAA 1987, Newsletter of the Association of Northern and Central Australian Aboriginal Artists 3, 12. (C)
Hill, M., and McLeod, N.,1984, From the Ochres of Mungo, Aboriginal Art Today, Dorr McLeod Publishing, West Heidleberg, Victoria. (C)
Johnson, V., 1987, Art and Aboriginality, exhib. cat., Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK. O'Ferrall, M., 1990,
Keepers of the Secrets, Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland in the Collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. (C)
1988, ANCAAA and Boomalli, exhib. cat., Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Ko-operative, Sydney. (C)
1990, Balance 1990: Views, Visions, Influences, exhib. cat., Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. (C)
West Australian newspaper, 28/2/1987 (pp 32-33).
� Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Notes:
Djardi was born in 1951 at Djoindi, an outstation of Yirrkala, northeastern Arnhem Land. It is known as the stone spear country, associated with the journey of the Wagilag sisters, and his tribe is Wagilag, dua moiety.
During his early life Djardi watched his father, (ceremonial leader of the tribe) as he painted on bark. As Djardi passed through his age-grading rites his father passed on to him his sacred designs and his 'dreamings', stories of the early ancestral beings from whom they were descended. In time Djardi became a highly respected artist.
In 1978 Djardi married Dorothy Djukulul, of the Ganalbingu tribe, Yirritja moiety, one of the few women in Arnhem Land who are allowed to paint, because her father, a very famous artists called Nhulmarmar, was afraid that his 'dreamings' might die out if anything were to happen to his son, George Milpurrurru. He therefore persuaded the elders to agree to his daughter painting his designs, and in time she has risen to fame almost equal to that of her renowned brother and father, who are both deceased.
Djardi moved from Doindji to Ramingining when he married Dorothy, and they had five girls and three sons. He has been given permission to paint some of the dreamings of his wife, and together they have exhibited at important national exhibitions, including the Aboriginal Artists' Gallery in Melbourne in 1986, when ten of their paintings were acquired for the Robert Holmes a Court collection, the Esplanade Gallery, Darwin, 1988 and the Cooee Gallery in Sydney 1990. Djardi has also had solo exhibitions at the Douglas Burns Art Museum and at the Flinders University Art Museum in South Australia (20 August -13 September 1991).
Because of ceremonial duties as one of the leaders of sacred rites, he is not able to paint as often as he would like and his works are very difficult to acquire.
� Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the AustralianInstitute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies