Ishmael Marika

Ishmael was born in Nhulunbuy, Australia, to mother Yalmakany Marawili, and father Gary Waninya (also written Wanyubi) Marika.{{Cite web|title=Wukun Wanambi & Ishmael Marika: In conversation, Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, Yirrkala N.T.|url=https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1106374/4.-Miwatj_Wukun-Wanambi-and-Ishmael-Marika_Interview.pdf|last=Hodgson|first=Travis|date=|website=Latrobe|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} His mother is a Yirralka Ranger and exhibited artist, and sister to Djambawa Marawili. His father is a prominent artist who has an Order of Australia for services to Indigenous Health. His mother's side of the family belongs to the Madarrpa clan and his father's side belongs to the Rirratjingu clan. His maternal grandmother is Dhudu Djapu. His paternal grandfather's side is Dhalwangu. Ishmael's father is also an elder of the Rirratjingu clan and his grandfather, Milirrpum, represented his people as the lead plaintiff in the first Land Rights case —Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd, also known as the Gove Land Rights Case, in 1971.{{Cite web|title=Ishmael Marika|url=https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/node/5584|last=NSW|first=Transport for|date=2017-10-03|website=www.transport.nsw.gov.au|language=en-AU|access-date=2020-05-03}} Marika’s paternal and maternal lineage places him within a long-standing Yolngu tradition of ceremonial authority, land custodianship, and legal activism. {{cite web |title=Kleinert, Sylvia, and Margo Neale, eds. The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0195506499}}   

Marika spent his youth in Yilpara, a school in the East Arnhem Region, Australia. He attended Nhulubuy Primary School before moving to Melbourne, Australia to complete years 8 and 9. He then attended a school in Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, finishing years 10 to 12. In 2016, Marika was named Telstra Youth of the Year for his contributions to Indigenous music and filmmaking. {{cite web |title=Buku Ishmael Marika |url=https://yirrkala.com/ishmael-marika/}}In 2009, he returned to Yirrkala in the East Arnhem Shire in the Northern Arnhem Territory of Australia. Here he spent 6 months working as ranger before beginning his work with the Mulka Project in 2010, where he currently is Creative Director. In recognition of his cultural and artistic achievements, Marika was awarded the Telstra Youth of the Year award in 2016. {{cite web |title=Buku Ishmael Marika |url=https://yirrkala.com/ishmael-marika/}}

Ishmael Marika grew up with traditional music and began singing at the age of 10.{{Cite web|title=Ishmael and his Two Sisters walk with major music award|url=https://nit.com.au/ishmael-two-sisters-walk-major-music-award/|last=Barrass|first=Tony|date=2016-08-10|website=National Indigenous Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-03|archive-date=3 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103005105/https://nit.com.au/ishmael-two-sisters-walk-major-music-award/|url-status=dead}} He has continued to write songs that tell the traditional stories of his people about the creation of the world, the relationship between man and his natural environment, behaviours and etiquette of his people, and more.{{Cite web|title=Mulka Archive|url=https://issuu.com/mulka/docs/mulkamag_revised|website=Issuu|date=16 November 2011 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-03}} In 2016, Marika earned critical acclaim for his song “Two Sisters Journey.” The song won the NT Traditional Song of the Year award in 2016. {{cite web |title=Buku Ishmael Marika |url=https://yirrkala.com/ishmael-marika/}}In addition to songwriting, Ishmael has worked on numerous cultural productions for the Yolngu people, with the permission of the elders, including documentations of various ceremonial traditions such as the dhapi and baparru ceremonies. His first and most widely-known documentary, is titled Wanga Watangumirri Dharuk (2010), about Yolngu land rights—a subject with familial importance to him. This documentary has appeared at several music festivals, and was privately screened for East Timor former President José Ramos-Horta. The film was also included in the Darwin Festival and received strong audience engagement for its treatment of Indigenous sovereignty. {{cite web |title=Buku Ishmael Marika |url=https://yirrkala.com/ishmael-marika/}} Marika’s filmmaking aligns with Indigenous scholar Marcia Langton’s argument that Aboriginal film functions as political self-representation and cultural reclamation. {{cite web |title=Langton, Marcia. “Aboriginal Art and Film.” In Blacklines: Contemporary Critical Writing by Indigenous Australians, edited by Michele Grossman, 109–117. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2003. |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C500125}}In 2013, Marika created a work titled My Grandfather Passing on a Message, which features a tape recording of his grandfather and English subtitles.{{Cite journal |last=Lazarus |first=Robert |date= 2022|title=Circulating cassettes of ceremony: Indigenous peer-to-peer networks in Arnhem Land |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01634437211045543 |journal=Media, Culture & Society |language=en |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=141–160 |doi=10.1177/01634437211045543 |issn=0163-4437 |access-date=20 April 2024}} The goal of this display was not only to catalogue important Yolngu knowledge for future generations, but also to share culture with outsiders. This work is considered a pivotal example of Marika’s effort to translate oral knowledge into audiovisual form while maintaining cultural sensitivity. {{cite web |title=Wukun Wanambi & Ishmael Marika |url=https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1106374/4.-Miwatj_Wukun-Wanambi-and-Ishmael-Marika_Interview.pdf}}In 2014, he released a second film, Galka, a drama film about Yolŋu sorcery. Galka appeared at the Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures in 2014, where it received a standing ovation. In 2016, Marika co-authored an article in Artlink magazine discussing the Mulka Project’s role in documenting and digitizing sacred Yolngu knowledge while respecting cultural protocols. {{cite web |title=Wanambi, Wukun, and Ishmael Marika. “The Mulka Project.” Artlink 36, no. 2 (2016): 68–69. |url=https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4481/the-mulka-project/}} Since this, Marika has produced a number of other films including Gapu Ga Gunda: The Art of Nongirrngga Marawili (2015), and a 5 episode installment titled Wunya’Gali (The Other Side) in 2017, commissioned by Transport for NSW. Working within the Mulka Project's goal to facilitate culture in Arnhem Land, Marika collaborated with Martu artist Curtis Taylor, learning how to make spears from clan elders in order to create a work of art that crosses language groups.{{cite magazine |id={{ProQuest|1957136783}} |last1=Coleman |first1=Sheridan |title='Yolngu and Martu coming together': Curtis Taylor and 'In Cahoots' |magazine=Art Monthly Australia |issue=303 |date=November 2017 |page=26 }} This project, titled Scars, reflects on intergenerational knowledge transfer and the visible and invisible marks of cultural continuity. {{cite web |title=https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1106374/4.-Miwatj_Wukun-Wanambi-and-Ishmael-Marika_Interview.pdf |url=https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1106374/4.-Miwatj_Wukun-Wanambi-and-Ishmael-Marika_Interview.pdf}} Through this and similar projects, Marika facilitates cultural transmission across generations, making sacred knowledge accessible to younger Yolngu audiences while preserving its authority. {{cite web |title=Wanambi, Wukun, and Ishmael Marika. “The Mulka Project.” Artlink 36, no. 2 (2016): 68–69. |url=https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4481/the-mulka-project/}}In all, 70 spears were crafted and displayed at Fremantle Arts Centre from November 2017 until January 2018. He has also created other large-screen film projects, including a piece in 2017 that is displayed at Wynyard Station in Sydney. Also in 2017, for the Tarnanthi Festival—a yearly Aboriginal art showcase—Marika developed a moving-image to accompany a work by artist Nawurapu Wunungmurra.{{Cite web |title=Tarnanthi at AGSA |url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/whats-on/tarnanthi/tarnanthi-2017/tarnanthi-agsa/tarnanthi-agsa/ |access-date=2024-04-20 |website=AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia |language=en}} Marika’s display depicted traditional Yolngu dance that is performed to greet fishermen arriving in northeast Arnhem Land. He has also led workshops and mentorship programs through the Mulka Project, training younger Yolngu in filmmaking and digital storytelling to continue cultural preservation efforts.{{cite web |title=Altman, Jon. The Indigenous Hybrid Economy. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University, 2005. |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/d37b8f20-974d-4811-8b60-2bea10879fd6/content}} Starting in 2022, Marika began traveling to the United States as part of the Yolngu curatorial staff for the Madayin exhibition, which features 8 decades of bark paintings, as well as two video installations created by Marika and the Mulka Project. {{cite web |title=Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. “Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala.” University of Virginia, 2022. |url=https://kluge-ruhe.org/collaboration/madayin/}} This exhibition reflects Marika’s commitment to preserving Yolngu law and knowledge using both bark painting and cutting-edge digital media. {{cite web |title=Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. “Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala.” University of Virginia, 2022. |url=https://kluge-ruhe.org/collaboration/madayin/}} Marika reflects on MADAYIN: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala.{{cite web |url=https://madayin.kluge-ruhe.org/ishmael-marika-reflects-upon-the-opening-of-ma%E1%B8%8Fayin-at-the-hood-museum-of-art/ |title=Ishmael Marika reflects upon the opening of MAḎAYIN at the Hood Museum of Art |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=Kluge-Ruhe: Madayin |language=en-US}} Starting in 2022, Marika traveled to the United States both as a participating artist and curatorial advisor for the Madayin exhibition, reflecting the dual roles Indigenous artists often assume in cultural preservation.{{cite web |title=Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. “Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala.” University of Virginia, 2022. |url=https://kluge-ruhe.org/collaboration/madayin/}} Marika reflects upon the opening of MAḎAYIN at the Hood Museum of Art. In 2023, Marika's work Djarraṯawun was featured at the Enlighten Festival in Canberra, where Yolngu songlines and natural forces were projected onto the National Gallery of Australia’s façade.{{cite web |title=Wynscreen contributing artist |url=https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/programs/transport-arts/wynscreen/ishmael-marika}}

Telstra Youth of the Year at the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards (NATSIA) for Sunlight Energy in 2016.{{Cite magazine |last=Scholes |first=Luke |date=September 2016 |title=Connection and Belonging |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.277816045685359 |journal=Art Monthly Australasia |issue=292 |pages=18–25 }}

NT Traditional Song of the Year at the National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA) with a recording of "Two Sisters Journey."

NT Young Achiever of the Year Award in 2015 {{Cite web |title=About – the Mulka Project |url=https://www.yirrkala.com/about-the-mulka-project |access-date=April 20, 2024 |website=Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre}} Marika’s creative works frequently address themes of ancestral law, environmental change, and cross-cultural communication, blending traditional Yolngu perspectives with contemporary artistic methods. {{cite web |title=Wynscreen contributing artist |url=https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/programs/transport-arts/wynscreen/ishmael-marika}} His work is part of a broader cultural movement where Indigenous artists assert sovereignty and continuity through both traditional and contemporary forms of expression.{{cite web |title=Kleinert, Sylvia, and Margo Neale, eds. The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0195506499}}

• Wanambi, Wukun, Marika, Ishmael, "The mulka project," Artlink, v.36, no.2, Jun 2016, p. 82-84 (ISSN: 0727–1239), Jun 2016. Journal Article.
• "In a winning painting, the stolen generations," The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 2016 August 6, p. 16 (ISSN: 0312–6307), Newspaper article.

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Category:Living people

Category:1991 births

Category:Australian musicians

Category:Australian documentary filmmakers