Alternative Media Group

THEATRE: NAMATJIRA

Author:

Angela Bennetts

Posted:

Monday, 27 September 2010

The vibrant watercolour paintings of the Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra Arts Centre in Alice Springs feature the bush flowers, camping grounds and the ancient ring of ochre-tinged Macdonell Ranges,that define the Arrente lands of the Northern Territory. Western Arrente, spreading out to Mutitjulu and King’s Canyon, is also the home to one of Australia’s most famous artists, Albert Namatjira. Many of the watercolours are created by direct descendants of his, or at least those that live in his legacy.

Few would not know of Namatjira. Online searches show his proud profile, in an akubra and pale suit, against Government House in Sydney, 1955 – a country boy cutting sharp relief against the staid cityscape. It’s a telling image – of Namatjira’s success, but also his isolation. “In the 2005 show Ngapartji Ngapartji, there was a young man called Elton Wirri,” – Wirri is a key artist of Ngurratjuta – “doing the chalk drawings of Western Arrente landscapes,” says Sophia Marinos, the Creative Producer of the upcoming hybrid stage show, devised by community-geared theatre-makers Big hArt and devoted to the most well-known Aranda son.  “At the end of the show he would be introduced to the audience as the grandson of Namatjira. There was a palpable interest in the story. They would be like, Ahh! Wow! I know that name. But hang on I don’t the story very well…”

And so Big hArt, under director and writer Scott Rankin, took up the talking stick. Born as Elea in 1902, he was later baptised as Albert at the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission; a name that means noble and famous. It was not until a whitefella watercolour artist Rex Battarbee passed through in 1932 that this destiny began to look likely. Albert offered to be camera boy to Rex in return for tuition. “There was a lot of public interest in it, because suddenly there was a window into the central desert,” says Marinos. “People in cities and along the coast were like, Wow! That’s what the country looks like!” With the backing of Rex and the Mission’s Pastor, his star began its ascent. Shows would to sell out before they even opened; he had an audience with the Queen; he travelled the country with his son in an Ampol truck; and ten years before the referendum, Albert Namatjira became the first Indigenous citizen.

“The primary purpose for that was actually so that they could tax him. He was suddenly earning a lot of money and not paying any income tax because he was the flora and fauna.” Namatjira appealed the decision three times. This ‘honour’ turned out to be the turning point in his fortunes. “He started drinking a lot,” says Marinos. “He also started providing it to his family and community, which he wasn’t allowed to do by white culture, but by black culture he was obliged to. Then someone got really drunk and murdered their wife, and Albert got jailed for that. That was his downfall. He was living between two worlds and became pretty broken by the contradictions.”

It’s hard not to see similarities with Bennelong. The colonial white society who championed the interlocutor as an Aboriginal ambassador were just as quick to reject him when he turned to the drink (which they themselves supplied). How do you tell such an iconic Australian story, without pretending to speak for the multitude of such stories, indeed the multitude of Aboriginal nations? “That was a challenge,” admits Marinos. “How do we take advantage of the immense public interest but keep it true at the grass roots, make sure that it keeps its integrity? At the end of the day, we had to juggle with the fact that it was also a drama.”

Intensive consultation with the Namatjira clan was crucial; the most senior custodian, Lenie Namatjira, eventually gave her blessing, telling Big hArt, “People know his art, but we want the nation to know his story.” The first showing of the production was to the senior grandchildren, “Which was pretty scary!” laughs Marinos. It was also deemed essential that performer Trevor Jamieson be on board – he had told his own family story in Ngapartji Ngapartji. And like Ngapartji Ngapartji, Namatjira had to be more than just a show, it had to be a project that fed back into the community. On top of an accompanying watercolour exhibition, there is a documentary is in the works, as well as a celebration of Albert Namatjira’s life to be held in Alice Springs; giving back to the land that gave colour and form to Namatjira’s most well known legacy.

Exhibition: Sep 20-Oct 16, Birrung Gallery, William St, Darlinghurst
Show: Until Nov 7, Belvoir St Upstairs, 25 Belvoir St, Darlinghurst, $57, 9699 3444, belvoir.com.au

GIVEAWAY! Thanks to Winsor & Newton arts supplies and Big hArt, we are able to offer a lucky reader one double pass to Namatjira at Belvoir Theatre on Oct 23. Email all your details to win@alternativemediagroup.com by Oct 14 to be in the running.

Photo by Heidrun Lohr

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