ARTISTS: BADGER BATES + JUSTINE MULLER

A collaboration between respected Barkandji Elder Uncle Badger Bates, non-Indigenous artist Justine Muller and the Wilcannia community.

A beautiful, tender and gripping series of paintings, linoprints, sculpture, installation and sound, which map a timeline of the love that these artists have for the Barka (Darling River) – “our Mother and the blood in our veins” – and its people, the Barkandji.

Badger Bates, Warrego Darling Junction, Toorale, 2012, linocut print

BARKA tells the story of desperate fear for the river and its ecology; and the Barkandji people’s determination to fight for the river’s health and its fundamental role in maintaining the wellbeing of their cultural, social and economic life.

Justine Muller, Aunty Ngearie, proud Barkandji Woman, 2018, acrylic on tin, with sound component: hear the personal stories of each portrait subject.

Badger Bates, Barka The Forgotten River and the Desecration of the Menindee Lakes, 2018, linocut print

Justine Muller, Murray Butcher, proud Barkandji Man, sitting in dry river bed of the Barka, Wilcannia 2018, film still