W. Wanambi Distinguished Lecture by Mayatili Marika

Mayatili Marika will deliver the W. Wanambi Distinguished Lecture in the Dome Room of the Rotunda on Feb 3 at 4 pm, followed by a reception in the Upper West Oval Room. Marika is a Rirratjingu Traditional Owner and Yolŋu woman based in northeast Arnhem Land. Part of a new generation of leadership for Yolŋu people, she is a bilingual leader and advocate who is involved in the education pipeline for Yolŋu people in the region. Her lecture ties in with two of Kluge-Ruhe’s exhibitions of Yolŋu art at the University of Virginia this spring, Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Paintings from Yirrkala at The Fralin Museum of Art, Feb 3 – Jul 14, 2024, and Waŋupini: Clouds of Remembrance and Return in the Upper West Oval Room of the Rotunda, Jan 8 – July 8, 2024.

If you are unable to join in person in Charlottesville, you can tune in virtually at Kluge-Ruhe’s YouTube Channel.

Mayatili Marika belongs to one of the great artistic and political dynasties of Australia. Her father is Wandjuk Marika O.B.E. and her grandfather is Mawalan Marika. Her father was instrumental in the international recognition of Aboriginal art, traveling around the world to promote Indigenous culture. As Chair of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australian Council he played an important role in advocating for the founding of the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre. The Marika family is strongly represented in the Madayin exhibition, as well as museum and gallery collections around the world.

For over a decade Mayatili Marika has been the Cultural Curator and programmer of the Garma Festival (Australia’s largest annual Indigenous event) in northeast Arnhem Land. She also works for the University of Melbourne, where her role provides cultural knowledge, leadership and support for the University’s strategy and partnerships in northeast Arnhem Land. Marika also connects and builds the University’s relationship with Yolngu people, working across the University with a range of academic and professional staff at all levels to create, developing and executing opportunities for collaboration with key stakeholders.

The W. Wanambi Distinguished Lecture is supported by the Center for Global Inquiry & Innovation and Virginia Humanities.