Balang Nakurulk (1952–2024) was an Australian contemporary Indigenous artist. He uses traditional motifs to express spiritual and cultural values. He is known for his creations based on the traditional cross-hatching style of bark painting technique known as rarrk. However, he is also known for carving, weaving, and batik.
Personal life Balang was born in 1952 in Mumeka, a traditional camping ground for members of the Kurulk clan, on the Mann River, about south of Maningrida. He is a member of the Kuninjku people of West Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, and grew up immersed in traditional life with extended family, having only occasional contact with non-indigenous people and culture. Born in the bush south of Maningrida, Balang has based his life on Kurulk clan lands that stretch between the Liverpool, Mann and Tomkinson Rivers and moved between seasonal camps along these rivers with family. This tract of sparsely populated tropical woodland is some 500 kilometres east of Darwin and accessible by dirt road only during the dry season. Steeped in ancestral narratives and abundant in plant and animal life, the area features ancient rock art galleries that skirt the northern rim of the Arnhem Plateau. he was living a traditional lifestyle at an outstation near Maningrida, still painting and hunting. While living in this outstation, he suffered from the early stages of Leprosy, and did not enjoy life as traditional ceremonies and language were banned. However, he was recognized as a formidable hunter and was considered by critic John McDonald to be an artistic prodigy by his family.John McDonald. “Hand of a Master.” Canberra Times, June 23, 2018. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=DOC70OTYOF6YI113NTM0921&site=eds-live.
Balang was introduced to ritual painting in 1969 by his father Anchor Kulunba (c. 1920 – 1996). Balang's art practices began through his participation in the Mardayin ceremony, where he learned to paint rarrk on bodies and ceremonial objects. In ensuing years under the instruction of his older brother Jimmy Njiminjuma (1947 – 2004) and Peter Marralwanga (1916 – 1987), he became a proficient bark painter developing expertise unique to this form of practice: the harvesting and preparation of the stringybark support, cartographic knowledge of sacred ochre deposits and skills to grind, mix and fix their coloured pigments, and the fashioning of sedge rushes into delicate single-strand brushes. Under Njiminjuma's watch, Balang was also introduced to long-established Kuninjku conventions dictating subject matter and its iconography, the characteristics of which have been explored at length by anthropologist Luke Taylor in his pioneering analysis of Western Arnhem Land art. According to Luke Taylor, Balang has played a large role in redefining Kuninjku artistic tradition by incorporating ceremonial motifs into contemporary art. About Balang, Luke Taylor has also stated, "Mawurndjul is a man who impresses all who meet him with his energy and drive. He is a remarkable hunter who will work hard all day to obtain the highly prized bush foods that he will share with his relatives."John McDonald. "Hand of a Master." Canberra Times, 23 Jun. 2018, pp. 6 - 5.
Growing up during the late 20th century, Balang experienced an era when the government of Australia was beginning to have a greater reach into Arnhem Land; a phenomenon that influenced his art throughout his career. Throughout his life, ration depots became commercialized villages and towns in the region that fundamentally changed the lives of indigenous people. Through his work, Balang addresses the complex colonial relationships that spawned from this development. Balang's works uses Kuninjku knowledge, embed stories, laws, and ceremony to create visual art. Mawurndjul was married to fellow artist Kay Lindjuwanga. Together, they had several children, including daughters Anna Wurrkidj, Josephine Wurrkidj, and Semeria Wurrkidj, who have followed in their father's artistic footsteps. His family continues to uphold and evolve the Kuninjku artistic traditions.
Balang is the leader of many religious traditions. In the early 1990s, he and his family established an outpost in Milmilngkan at a billabong, a spiritually significant lake that serves as a sacred site of the Ngalyod,SEBASTIAN SMEE. "BARK WITH BITE." Sydney Morning Herald, The, 2 Jun. 2000, pp. 24 - 23. the rainbow serpent that he depicts and honors in much of his artwork.
Art Balang is known for his use of ‘rarrk'. This is a form of crosshatched linework used in Arnhem Land ceremonial painting. His application of the technique creates a dynamic visual effect, making the art visually interesting.Marquis, Jenefer, and Theodor Wyeld. 2009. “‘Seeing Mardayin’: Instability and Ambiguity in the Art of John Mawurndjul, Kuninjku, Arnhem Land, Northern Australia.” In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Information Visualisation, 539–545. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IV.2009.81. Balang's use of rarrk is not simply for decoration, rather, it often makes the viewer feel a little unsure of what they’re seeing. The way the lines move and shift gives the artwork a sense of motion or flickering, which draws people in and makes them observe more deeply. This kind of visual confusion actually connects to how Kuninjku people understand their ceremonies, where not everything is meant to be seen clearly or understood right away.T. Wyeld and J. Marquis, “‘Seeing Mardayin’: Instability and Ambiguity in the Art of John Mawurndjul, Kuninjku, Arnhem Land, Northern Australia,” in 2009 13th International Conference Information Visualisation (IV) (Barcelona: IEEE, 2009), 539–43, https://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/IV.2009.81. Balang's use of rarrk marked a major turning point in bark painting. Mawurndjul was the first bark painter to successfully challenge the hegemony of the Desert and Kimberley styles within the terms of contemporary.McLean, Ian. Aboriginal History 34 (2010): 255–57. He introduced new ways of showing space, adding depth, and creating visual effects through his cross-hatching techniques. His approach also brought new perspectives to the composition of bark paintings, mixing traditional techniques with a more experimental, personal style.Bullock, Natasha and Genevieve O'Callaghan, eds. John Mawurndjul: I Am the Old and the New. Translated by Garde, Murray (interpreter). Sydney, NSW: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2018. These grid structures and the occasional exposures of the under layers of paint create a bir'yin' ("brilliance," "shining," "shimmering") effect, a quality of reminiscent of wangarr marr, or ancestral power. For Mawurndjul, the aesthetic effects on his paintings are not just for visuals. The rarrk patterns express the strength of Ancestral power and are known to have a spiritual purpose rather than a stylistic intent. His ceiling murals, for example, use these visual effects to imitate the power of Ngalyod.Luke Taylor, John Mawurndjul's Art in Paris, Museum Anthropology 45, no. 2 (2022): 164–179, https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12254. Later he produced paintings of Ngalyod that showed its body with dazzling zigzags of colour. Some early works show detailed compositions with Ngalyod encircling other Djang and pulling them into the ground. While these paintings have a light-emitting effect, the designs are not as powerful as those of ceremonial paintings, and the power coming from rarrk bark paintings is a "manifestation" of ancestral powers. Mawurndjul's 2018–2019 retrospective, John Mawurndjul: I Am the Old and the New, showcased his innovative use of rarrk (crosshatching) and his focus on sacred sites in Arnhem Land. Critics noted that his work challenges the dichotomy between traditional and contemporary art, positioning him as a pivotal figure in redefining Indigenous Australian art within the global contemporary art scene.Lai, Ophelia. "John Mawurndjul." ArtAsiaPacific, 2 Jan. 2019, pp. 215 - 214. Balang's later work also includes circle shapes on top of the rarrk pattern, creating a visual effect that seems to make these circles "float" or even form figures with the grid that encapsulate more complex meanings. In his Madayin series, these circles are seen to be reminiscent of waterholes, which also contain ancestral powers. In Balang's words:"Mardayin phenomena are located in water,
underneath bodies of water. Water is on the top and
Mardayin is underneath… it is always in the water."He was tutored in rarrk, a traditional painting technique using fine cross-hatching and infill, in the 1970s by his uncle Peter Marralwanga and elder brother Jimmy Njiminjuma and began producing small paintings on bark. Some even considered him an "artistic prodigy" at the time. In 1979, Balang began painting for the market, in which much of his works were small bark paintings that depicted animals and spirits, including bambirl (echidna), ngaldadmurrng (saratoga fish), birlmu (large barramundi fish), mimih spirits, yawkyawk and Ngalyod (the Rainbow Serpent). While he was best known for his bark paintings, Balang also contributed to the mimih sculpture tradition that was created by his father-in-law Crusoe Kuningbal. These spirit figures are carved from softwood and have become important to the Maningrida region.Taylor, Luke. 2012. “Manifestations of the Mimih.” In The Power of Knowledge: The Resonance of Tradition, 182–187. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. Two examples of these early works are Ngaldadmurrng saratoga (1979) and Ngalyod, the Rainbow Serpent at Dilebang (c.1979). During the 1980s he began producing larger and more complex works, and in 1988 won a Rothmans Foundation Award. 1988 also marked the year in which Balang's worked gained heavy momentum being displayed in many exhibitions in Australia and overseas. Some of his inspiration draws from Yirawala, Midjawmidjaw, Paddy Compass, and other artists.McGrath, Ann, et al. "6. Categories of ‘Old’ and ‘New’ in Western Arnhem Land Bark Painting." Long History, Deep Time: Deepening Histories of Place, ANU Press, Acton, A.C.T., 2015, pp. 101–118. Balang also takes strong inspiration from various sacred places. Balang before he starts new works will look across the Kurulk clan estate for inspiration.
Over Balang's career he has employed many different techniques, some from his culture and others he has created himself. In the beginning of his career Balang stuck to his roots through creating many images of important figures in Aboriginal art such as the rainbow serpent Ngalyod. In later years he has emphasized a "geometric aesthetic", using Mardayin ceremony body paintings in his works and making them his own. This geometric aesthetic can also be seen in his 1988 work Nawarramulmui (Shooting Star Spirit), which features shapes with straight lines and solid colors instead of rarrk, while still being on bark. This painting also still connects back to his themes of tradition and culture, as it represents a supernatural nighttime figure.PAROISSIEN, LEON. "John Mawurndjul & Danie Mellor." ArtAsiaPacific, no. 83, 1 May 2013, p. 162. Many of Balang's paintings map his ancestral lands and reference sacred sites. These places are associated with Mardayin ceremonies and ancestral narratives. Taylor, Luke. 2015a. “Categories of ‘Old’ and ‘New’ in Western Arnhem Land Bark Painting.” In Long History, Deep Time, edited by Ann McGrath and Mary Anne Jebb, 101–117. Canberra: ANU Press.