Darren Wighton: Gawaymbanha

The artworks on the wall and ceiling of the MAMA foyer have been created by senior Wiradjuri man Darren Wighton as a statement of connection to place. The MAMA building and all who pass through it are on Wiradjuri Country.

Gawaymbanha is a Wiradjuri word that translates to English as welcome.

It is not simply a welcome to the gallery or welcome to Wiradjuri Country. It is a welcome to the people, the culture, the connections that exist. - Darren Wighton

Dendroglyphs – the markings of carved trees – fill the large letters of the wall painting. The changes in colour and tone suggest trees that have been carved across generations. The darker sections to the left signify very old carvings that shift to representations of newly carved trees by generations of young people who work to maintain Wiradjuri knowledge today.

The ceiling painting offers an image of Wiradjuri astrological knowledge that has been shared for millennia, across thousands of generations. The key features in the work are the Emu in the Sky, visible in the dark sections of the Milky Way, the Southern Cross and the Goanna climbing a tree. Wiradjuri cultural knowledge shares that the visibility of the Goanna in the tree indicates that it is not the time of year to be hunting. That work is best done when the Goanna has climbed down and disappeared from the night sky.

This project received support from the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency Destination NSW, through the 2020 - 2021 Experience Enhancement Fund

This project was supported by the Australian Government’s Arts and Cultural Development Program through the RISE fund.