Dingo Project | Curated by Djon Mundine OAM

The name 'Mittagong' (a village town of the Southern Highlands) comes from an Aboriginal word meaning 'little mountain'. Other suggested meanings are 'a companion' and 'plenty of native dogs', as the Mittagong range was home to many dingoes at one time.

In Aboriginal culture, the dingo and the possum are often humanised animal spirits that are seldom seen, with the dingo, in particular, depicted as lawless and untamed. This is why men in Arnhem Land will jokingly say to each other, 'fnhe watu', literally meaning 'you dog'. A canine, meanwhile, is a wild animal that is controlled and domesticated. How do you domesticate a wild animal? By feeding it, thereby making and keeping it dependent? A dog on a leash is constantly reminded of the length and limits it is tied to.

Bandjalung man Djon Mundine OAM takes this as a starting point. The Dingo Project will investigate the spiritual mythology and the historical narratives of ancestral dingoes. Furthermore, it addresses questions of familial and national forgiveness and Aboriginal connections to country and nature.

EXHIBITION
8 January – 13 March 2022
DANIEL BOYD, MICHAEL COOK, JUDITH CRISPIN, KARLA DICKENS, BLAK DOUGLAS, FIONA FOLEY, MADDISON GIBBS, JULIE GOUGH, AROHA GROVES, FIONA HALL, SANDRA HILL, WARWICK KEEN, GARTH LENA, TRISH LEVETT, JOHN WILLIAM LINDT, JOHNNY MALIBIRR, TEENA MCCARTHY, TALLULAH MCCORD, DANIE MELLOR, JAMES NEAGLE, LIN ONUS AND MICHAEL EATHER, GEORGE PASCOE JNR., JENNY SAGES, PETER SWAIN, JASON WING

GALLERY
FREE ENTRY