Yirawala: Picasso of Arnhem Land

Examines the sentiment and philosophy of artist Yirawala, MBE, spiritual leader of the Gunwingu tribe who fought to stop uranium mining and the destruction of his land and religion. Examines many of the bark paintings of Yirawala and the myths behind them.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

producer/director

Sandra Holmes

production company

Morning Star Productions

Duration

00:49:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1982

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

015539

Language

English

Subject categories

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Legends

Aboriginal Australia → Yirawala, 1894-9176

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Aboriginal Australians - Legends

Crafts & Visual Arts → Aboriginal Australian artists

Crafts & Visual Arts → Aboriginal Australians - Painting

Crafts & Visual Arts → Yirawala, 1894-9176

History → Aboriginal Australians - Legends

People → Yirawala, 1894-9176

Short films

Short films → Short films - Australia

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/77309--yirawala-picasso-of-arnhem-land-a/ |title=Yirawala: Picasso of Arnhem Land |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=23 April 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1982

Please note