Yuendumu Doors (1982), Paddy Jupurrurla Nelson, Roy Jupurrurla Curtis, Paddy Japaljarri Stewart, Paddy Japaljarri Sims, Larry Jungarrayi Spencer

 

In 1982, a group of Walpiri elders from Yuendumu (Northern Territory of Australia) began a project to transmit Walpiri Dreaming Stories to the children of the local school. They did so by painting the doors of the school in colorful representations of their Dreamings; thus, creating the Yuendumu doors. The series of 30 doors can now be found in the South Australian Museum since they were acquired by the latter during the 1990s when the school underwent reformations.

The Yuendumu doors are said to represent the cross-cultures between Aboriginal and white communities due to the chosen medium, the color palette, and the purpose behind the creation of the doors. Walpiri art was historically ephemeral and had earthy colors. Representations of the Dreamings were traced into the sand and erased later by the wind. The symbols and their meanings were passed down through generations within the community without the need of a tangible, permanent material, or surface to do so. This, however, was not the case in the context of the colonized area of Yuendumu in the 20th century. Their children’s struggle to engage in white western anglophone schooling made it urgent to transmit Walpiri culture and knowledge, but also to celebrate it in the face of cultural erasure. Therefore, the artists took advantage of western mediums to create a transcultural piece of art. That is, through choosing and modifying materials from the dominant culture, the Walpiri artists managed to create something that would be tangible, permanent, public, and colorful.

The South Australian Museum, which had been working with the Walpiri people of Central Australia since the early 1930s, acquired the 30 doors in the 1990s when the school of Yuendumu underwent reformations. The doors had been damaged by winds, sun, and graffiti. However, the museum's attempt at cultural retention through legitimately acquiring the doors is questionable since these pieces were inadequately put away in a warehouse, and after a terrible storm in 2016, water leaked into the building and damaged many objects, including the Yuendumu doors. In short, cultural retention aid provided by neocolonial powers is questionable since items are taken out of their context and placed in a vulnerable position both materially, and symbolically.

Recently, images of the doors have been put on exhibition in many different countries and Australian embassies around the world. Through these exhibitions, the South Australian Museum hopes to share and celebrate Indigenous art and history, while also trying to participate in the national effort to bring non-aboriginals closer to cultures such as that of the Walpiri, and other Aboriginal groups. However, it could be argued that this ‘expansionist’ act of sharing a particular culture across the globe, distances the art from the initial objectives and needs which originated its creation. Therefore, perpetuating a colonial discourse and a stagnated image of Aboriginal people in the process.

The Yuendumu doors of the Walpiri people are one of the earliest examples of the transference of Indigenous art to a western medium. From its original context, to the acquisition by the museum,  to being displayed in world exhibitions; the Yuendumu doors can be considered an example of contemporary cultural retention, and legitimate artistic acquisition on behalf of a museum, in a (pos)colonial context.