Paddy Fordham Wainburranga

Australian Aboriginal Artist

(Deceased)


Paddy Fordham Wainburranga 


Born:                   1932c
Died:                   June 2006
Region:                 Southern Arnhem Land
Community Centre:       Jarruluk (Beswick)
Language:               Rembarrnga
Local Group (clan):     Mirraytja
Social Affiliations:    Dhuwa moiety, Gela

Medium/ Form:
Bark painting, Carving, carved and painted hollow log coffin, lithographic print, ochres on bark

Awards:
1989, Memorial Award for Mawalan's eldest son, [Best artwork in open media] National Aboriginal Art Award, Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, Darwin
1993, Telecom Australia Prize, $15,000 National Aboriginal Art Award, Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, Darwin

Films:
Too many Captain Cooks (d: Penny McDonald) 1988. (C)

Collections:
Artbank, Sydney.
Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia.
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide.
Museum of Victoria, Melbourne.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney.
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth.

Exhibitions:
1984, Aboriginal Art, an Exhibition Presented by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra,
1985, The Second National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1987, The Fourth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1989, A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne; Design Warehouse Sydney [through Lauraine Diggins Fine Art]
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 Northern Territory, Darwin
1990, Spirit in Land, Bark Paintings from Arnhem Land, National Gallery of Victoria
1990, Tagari Lia: My Family, Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1990 -from Australia, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, UK
1990, Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Harvard University, University of Minnesota, Lake Oswego Center for the Arts, United States of America
1991, Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia
1991, Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1991, The Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1992, Tyerabarrbowaryaou, I shall never become a whiteman, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1992, The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory,
1992/3, New Tracks Old Land: An Exhibition of Contemporary Prints from Aboriginal Australia, touring USA
1993, The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1993, Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra.
1993/4, ARATJARA, Art of the First Australians, Touring: Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen,
Dusseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London; Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek,
1994, Tyerabarrbowaryaou 2, I shall never become a whiteman, 5th Havana Biennial, Cuba, & Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1994, Malu Urul, National Maritime Museum, Sydney
1994, Art of the Rainbow Snake, National Gallery of Melbourne.

Select Bibliography:
Aboriginal Arts Management Association, 1990, Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1990 - from Australia (presented by the Aboriginal Arts Committee, Australia Council and Third Eye Centre, Glasgow), exhib. cat., Redfern, New South Wales. (C)
Caruana, W., 1987, Australian Aboriginal Art, a Souvenir Book of Aboriginal Art in the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Parkes, Australian Capital Territory. (C)
Caruana, W., 1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London. (C)
Diggins, L. (ed.), 1989, A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, exhib. cat., Malakoff Fine Art Press, North Caulfield, Victoria. Isaacs, J.,
1992, 'A Bitter pill for the white man (woman), Tyerabarrbowaryaou at the Museum of Contemporary Art,' Art Monthly Australia 49, 6-7. (C)
1993, Aratjara, Art of the First Australians: Traditional and Contemporary Works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Artists, exhib. cat. (conceived and designed by Bernard Luthi in collaboration with Gary Lee), Dumont, Buchverlag, Koln. (C)
1992, Tyerabarrbowaryaou I Shall Never Become a Whiteman, exhib. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. (C)
Langton, M., 1992-93 'The two women looked back over their shoulders & lamented leaving their country: detached comment (recent urban) & symbolic narrative (traditional),'
Aboriginal Art the Public Eye, Art Monthly Australia Supplement, 7-9. (C)
Mundine, D., 1992, 'If My Ancestors Could See Me Now.' In 1992, Tyerabarrbowaryaou I Shall Never Become a Whiteman, exhib. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. (C)
Ryan, J., 1990, Spirit in Land, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Wallace, D., Desmond, M., Caruana, W.,
1991, Flash Pictures, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. 1990, Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, exhib. cat., Heytesbury Holdings Ltd., Perth.
1991, Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1994, Tyerabarrbowaryaou 2 I Shall Never Become a Whiteman exhib. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.

� Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Paddy with his painting of the lightning Man
Notes:

Paddy is an elder of the Rembarrnga tribe. As such he has worked in music, dancing and story - telling as a way of life quite apart from painting and sculpture. He is called on frequently to participate in ceremonies all around the Northern Territory. Paddy is also called upon to take part in events of national importance to Aboriginal people.

In 1988, on the occasion of the Bicentennary of white colonisation of Australia, Paddy took a prominent part in the Aboriginal memorial, completing some 30 of the 200 hollow log coffins made to commemorate Aboriginal deaths since colonisation. He also attended the 5th Pacific Festival of Arts and Culture in Townsville as leader of the Beswick Dancers, and in the same year made a film "Too many Captain Cooks", to put forward an Aboriginal view of Australian history. Paddy's work often depicts the spirit figures of his country.
Courtesy of "New Tracks, Old Land"