Sally K. May

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Large painting of a crocodile attributed to Majumbu along with two child hand stencils. Photograph courtesy of the Melbourne Museum, object 019930, object size 2.94m by 1.03m

Returning a name to an artist: the work of Majumbu, a previously unknown Australian painter

Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University; Andrea Jalandoni, Griffith University; Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Kenneth Mangiru, Indigenous Knowledge; Luke Taylor, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, University of Adelaide

Majumbu’s work sits in the Melbourne Museum, but until now he has not been named as the artist.
The bark painting depicting a barramundi that Namadbara created for Spencer at Oenpelli in 1912 and that he identified in the interview with Lance Bennett in 1967, now in Museums Victoria Spencer/Cahill Collection (object X 19909).

Paddy Compass Namadbara: for the first time, we can name an artist who created bark paintings in Arnhem Land in the 1910s

Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Gabriel Maralngurra; Luke Taylor, Australian National University; Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, University of Adelaide

The Spencer/Cahill Collection at Museums Victoria contains approximately 170 bark paintings – and now we can name one of the artists behind them.
Josie Maralngurra touching her hand stencil made when she was around 12. In the background are three white barramundi fish figures with red line-work also created by her father Djimongurr. Photograph by Fiona McKeague, copyright Parks Australia

Friday essay: ‘this is our library’ – how to read the amazing archive of First Nations stories written on rock

Laura Rademaker, Australian National University; Gabriel Maralngurra; Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Kenneth Mangiru, Indigenous Knowledge; Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, University of Adelaide

Australia’s stunning galleries of rock art are vast repositories of knowledge that can teach us much.
Adventurer Francis Birtles in his car with a man identified as Indigenous artist Nayombolmi. National Library of Australia

Aboriginal art on a car? How an Indigenous artist and an adventurer met in the 1930 wet season in Kakadu

Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, Griffith University

One was a celebrity adventurer, the other was a skilled Indigenous artist who painted everything in sight. A new look at old photographs confirms their meeting.
Rock paintings from the main gallery at Djulirri in Namunidjbuk clan estate, showing traditional Aboriginal motifs as well as European boats, airplanes, and more. Photo by Sally K May.

Threat or trading partner? Sailing vessels in northwestern Arnhem Land rock art reveal different attitudes to visitors

Sally K. May, Griffith University; Daryl Wesley, Flinders University; Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia, and Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University

Pictures of boats and ships in rock art at the northwestern tip of Australia show the European incursions from the 1800s — but also the much earlier and lesser known sea trade with southeast Asia.
Jacob Junior Nayinggul (left) and Simon Baker in High Ground (2020). Maxo, Bunya Productions, Savage Films

How historically accurate is the film High Ground? The violence it depicts is uncomfortably close to the truth

Laura Rademaker, Australian National University; Julie Narndal Gumurdul, Indigenous Knowledge, and Sally K. May, Griffith University

In depicting brutal massacres and mission life, this film gets a lot right. And the model for its central protagonist may well be a young man called Narlim, exiled from his country in the late 1930s.

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