Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Namatjira Project" in English language version.
...the current generation who wish to pass on the artistic inheritance of Albert Namatjira.
...the current generation who wish to pass on the artistic inheritance of Albert Namatjira.
It seems to be paying off with the young artists staging a modest exhibition at Ntaria. And while they're learning the Namatjira style, they aren't restricted to paint and paper, thanks to a new digital program that some see as in keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of their ancestor.
In creating his stage production, Tasmanian playwright and director Scott Rankin consulted heavily with the Namatjira family.
This morning a workshop took place at the old lockup in Hunter St Newcastle. Albert Namatjira's oldest granddaughter was on hand to help young and old potential landscape artists with their technique and style. The two members of the Namatjira family paint a large landscape during the play to bring the audience into the world of Albert Namatjira.
Taking the project into the 21st century to explore the potential of the national broadband network in remote indigenous communities, the company has also developed an iPhone app which will enable people to paint in the style of the Namatjiras. The money from the app will go to the community and towards promoting the work in the school.
Then [...] we had their song and dance acts, one a disco-style love song with Lynch as Albert's heartthrob soon to be wife, Rubina; another, a [...] country and western number, that [...] gave account of the role of black stockmen in the developing pastoral industry. [...]Music on a variety of stringed and wind instruments was played by Genevieve Lacey [...]. The Ntaria Ladies Choir were also [...] singing several songs...
With family and community included as artists and performers in the show, this project has been […] celebrating the legacy of Australia's first Aboriginal citizen and best-known Aboriginal painter, Albert Namatjira.
This project is large, layered, and long-term and designed to leave lasting legacies beyond this touring performance piece. The Namatjira Project runs workshops in the Hermannsburg community; helps the older Namatjiras' take trips painting on country; is supporting the Hermannsburg Choir; and, is working to make a difference to the copyright issues surrounding Albert's work. It is also a celebration of the acclaimed watercolour artist Albert Namatjira's life and legacy.
The play traverses several languages, combining self-aware direct address monologues with musical montage, transcripts, re-enactment, re-imaginings. [...] The script bounces between our social "white" theatre conventions and the conventions of indigenous storytelling, through re-enactment, historical primary sources, imaginings, symbolism and personal creative response by the artists telling Namatjira's story and their own story.
Grandchildren of Albert Namatjira asked Big hART to share the story of their grandfather.
There is also a sort of 'afterword' screened at the very end, after the curtain call I encourage you to remain and watch.
Trevor [Jamieson] and I were touring another production, Ngapartji Ngapartji, and we'd introduce an artist on stage who was a kind grandson of Albert", he [Scott Rankin] says. "The audience would 'ohh' and 'ahhh' and it was clear there was a strong recognition of the story. As we looked into it, it became clear there were many contemporary issues contained in the story and it could provide a prism through which we could see our world and relationships between indigenous and non-indigenous people today.
The Arts Law Centre of Australia have some very interesting material on-line about the ownership of Namatjira's work – in his Writer and Director's note, Scott Rankin says "(Big hART are trying to) make a difference to the copyright issues surrounding Albert's work."
The Namatjira project is made in partnership with Ngurratjuta Many Hands Art Centre, which represents many of Albert Namatjira's descendants..
The actors transition seamlessly between their multiple roles.
His work […] forms the backdrop for Ngapartji Ngapartji, a performance at the Sydney Opera House which tells the story of the Spinifex or Pitjantjatjara tribe of Central Australia and their encounter with atomic testing at Maralinga in the 1950s. For Ngapartji Ngapartji, one of Elton's watercolours was cut into small squares which are turned as the play progresses to reveal the landscape.
Act I covers his birth in 1902, to traditional Aranda parents, his childhood and youth on the Lutheran mission at Hermannsburg, near Alice Springs, and his pivotal encounter in 1934 with the crippled World War I veteran-turned-artist Rex Battarbee, whose tragicomic journey from the Western Front to the Central Desert, delivered in sketch-form, could justify another play entirely. In a profound act of cultural exchange, Namatjira opened Battarbee's eyes to his country. In return, Battarbee introduced Namatjira to representational landscape painting in watercolour.
Act II follows Namatjira's rise to fame in the art world (and beyond), his becoming the first Aboriginal citizen of Australia (a scandalous example of taxation without representation) and his declining years in the 1950s: sick, despondent after a short stint in jail, and hounded to the last for money.
Students from Ntaria School in Hermannsburg where the Namatjira story began watched eagerly as the program went to air. The two schools have been sharing stories and next month Ntaria School will webcast its own program.
