Meet#9 Dharpa Djama Woodwork

The VWA welcomes Bonhula Yunupingu of Gunyangara East Arnhem Land to Melbourne.

Bonhula is a Yolngu man from the Gumatj clan who are establishing a forestry programme and furniture studio on their community.

In 2010 at the request of Gumatj clan leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu, VWA president Damien Wright and his family relocated to  Gunyangara to help establish the furniture studio.

Bonhula Yunupingu was made the Yolngu mentor. Together Damien and Bonhula set up a workshop and designed and made furniture with Gadayka, the local Darwin Stringybark.

Yolngu people have, for tens of thousands of years, used woodcraft and joinery techniques in the construction of art, boats, tools, weapons, musical instruments, and buildings. Despite the effects of colonization, these skills continue as part of the ritual of daily life. A goal of the Gumatj furniture project is to teach the European skills of furniture making and to develop a collaborative design aesthetic and process. But it is also to teach Balander (white people) about their skills, their life, their values.

Bonhula and Damien will give an illustrated talk on the Dharpa Djama studio and introduce the concept of Bala-ga-lilil – Two ways Learning.