You can count on the National Gallery of Victoria to always present engaging NGV kids exhibitions, and The Gecko and the Mermaid: Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu and Her Sister is no different.
This summer’s exhibition introduces two significant contemporary Yolŋu artists from North-East Arnhem Land in a collaboration between Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, an arts centre located in Yirrkala, approximately 700 km east of Darwin, and the National Gallery of Victoria.
The Gecko and the Mermaid
The Gecko and the Mermaid celebrates the vibrant culture and community of the Yolngu people through the work of two award-winning artists and sisters, Ms N. Yunupiŋu and Eunice Djerrkngu Yunupiŋu.
The interactive exhibition introduces visitors to the two sisters, their artworks and Yolngu culture and community. The culture of North-East Arnhem Land is known to be one of the oldest living cultures in the world.
Ms. N. Yunupingu and her sister Eunice Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu share their stories, culture and language through displays of art and hands-on activities featuring geckos, turtles, lizards and mermaids!
The custom-designed space looks sleek and rather space-age (presumably for ease of wiping and cleaning!) and there are five hands-on and multimedia activities produced especially for this exhibition.
We start with watching a specially produced film that shows children how the bark is collected and prepared for painting. They are then invited to create their own digital bark paintings, choosing from a colour palette of Ms N Yunupiŋu’s natural ochres, or Djerrkŋu’s vivid and paints repurposed from disposable printer ink cartridges.
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We then move to a multimedia game that gives children insights into the abundance of bush foods and cultural connections to Country.
For little ones, there are colourful animations of Ms. N. Yunupingu’s artworks that teach children how to count in Yolŋu Matha, the language of Yolŋu people and they can draw themselves as a mermaid to complete a three-dimensional seashell scene on a take-home pop-up card.
Babies and toddlers especially love the soft cushions depicting maypal (a variety of shellfish) in the circular mermaid cove.
While I feel that it is mainly aimed at younger children, 9-year old Baby 2.0 and 11-year old Lady AB were still surprisingly engaged. They thought it was adorable and did every activity on offer, while particularly enjoying the digital drawing and games. I see plenty of adults getting crafty too.
To complete your visit check out the major ground floor exhibition Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala which presents the work of eleven artists from Buku- Larrŋgay Mulka Centre.
There is also a NGV kids’ publication 123 Turtles and Geckos, a board book that takes young readers on a counting adventure across Country.
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