John Mawurndjul helps craft Family Day for his MCA exhibition, I Am the Old and the New
John Mawurndjul thought it was hilarious. The idea of white kids singing Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes in Kuninjku “really appealed” to the Maningrida bark master.
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JOHN Mawurndjul thought it was hilarious. The idea of a big group of white kids singing Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes in his Kuninjku dialect “really appealed” to the indigenous bark master from Maningrida in the Northern Territory.
So says Susie Rugg, kids and families co-ordinator at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The MCA tomorrow opens a major new exhibition of work by the internationally renowned artist called John Mawurndjul: I Am the Old and the New. And this Sunday, the MCA is having a free Family Day, developed in close association with Mawurndjul himself.
“It’s been really lovely,” Rugg says.
“It’s been quite a lengthy process, because everything needs to go through a translator. But it was really important that we got it right.”
The Family Day opens at 10.30am with a welcome to country, followed by
a time for singing and dancing with the Central Coast folk-jazz duo, Microwave Jenny.
This is when the kids will learn how
to sing Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes in Kuninjku.
So the MCA education unit could get the pronunciation right, Mawurndjul recorded himself saying the words. If
they want to, kids and families can listen to the recording in the MCA’s multimedia room.
“Then we’re doing some games, we’ve got a chocolate wheel and we’ve got a series of flash cards,” Rugg says.
“We’re doing a storytime session in the afternoon.”
Children’s book readings will be in both English and Kuninjku.
“We’re not expecting that people will learn Kuninjku in one day,” Rugg says.
“But we’re trying to teach people some basic language, in a whole lot of different ways.”
Translator Dr Murray Garde has worked with Mawurndjul for years and will be an important figure at the museum during Family Day. Garde has been a vital conduit to Mawurndjul who speaks almost no English.
The majestic display of Mawurndjul’s beautiful bark paintings is a joint project of the MCA and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
And Mawurndjul is due to come down with his own family members for the weekend’s celebrations.
“John really liked that there would be other families in the gallery on that weekend, celebrating with him,” Rugg says.
John Mawurndjul Family Day, Level 3, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 140 George St, The Rocks; Sunday 10.30am-4pm, free, mca.com.au