Chaloupka Fellow to tell the stories of rock art

A traditional woman born and raised on country in the Kakadu region, Mandy Muir, will illustrate and communicate in song, sounds and vision the rich history of local rock art after being awarded the ERA-sponsored George Chaloupka Fellowship.

The $25,000 fellowship supports research into Indigenous rock art in the Northern Territory. It is an initiative of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Foundation Limited.

There are many undocumented sites, which depict impressions of Indigenous inhabitants of the land during the unfolding social history of the region.

Mandy has already played a significant role in conveying the cultural significance of her home country by sharing the traditional lifestyle and values through her tourism enterprise Murdudjurl Cultural Tours.

A descendent of the Murumburr clan, Mandy grew up at Patonga homestead about 65km south of Jabiru and her mother is Kakadu traditional owner and community leader Jessie Alderson.

Mandy's work will focus on the Yuwengayay area, known as the Main Gallery of the Deaf Adder Creek, near Nourlangie Rock. The site features more than 300 rock paintings of the descriptive and decorative x-ray styles depicted over earlier works of art, and pecked hollows on vertical walls represent the Milky Way.

Mandy will be supported by relatives including acclaimed Darwin singer-songwriter Shellie Morris in bringing the stories of the rock art to life in sound recordings, oral histories, research, writing and transcription to be housed and presented at the gallery.

This is the third year that ERA has sponsored the George Chaloupka Fellowship, part of our commitment to enhancing cultural opportunities in the Alligator Rivers region.