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"It was my reputation as Bob Marley’s photographer
that eventually opened the door to a truly remarkable personal and photographic
experience."
The Mowanjum Aboriginal Community is located outside the town of Derby in the
far north of Western Australia. It is an important center for the preservation
of Aboriginal art and culture, and a place I had wanted to visit since I had
first gone to Australia for an exhibition of my photos of Bob Marley, the late
reggae musician. But Mowanjum is not an easy place to get to, and out of respect
to community residents, I didn’t want to just turn up with my camera uninvited.
It was only on my third trip to Australia that I was finally able to make contact
with community leaders, and obtain permission to photograph the rituals and daily
life of the Wororra, Ngarinyin, and Wunumbul peoples who live in the area.
“Show me your life,” I said, and although they were initially reluctant
to be photographed by an outsider, the popularity of reggae music extends even
to the Australian outback, and it was my reputation as Bob Marley’s photographer
that eventually opened the door to a truly remarkable personal and photographic
experience.
This photo of a Mowanjum elder was taken with the E-1 on the last day of my visit
to the community, when I was driven out into the bush to witness a ceremony calling
on the Wandjina, the supreme spirit of the Wororra, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul peoples.
When we arrived at the appointed place in late afternoon, a group of elders descended
from the crest of a nearby hill and began to perform a traditional djumba, incorporating
both song and dance, to call forth the Wandjina.
Moving into the center of the group, I got this shot of one of the elders in
profile just as the dance ended. His brilliant red headband and white ritual
body paint contrasting starkly with surreal blue of the twilight sky, he presented
a study in contrast that evoked the extremes of the Outback itself. And as he
gazed intently at the horizon, I felt certain he was seeing the Wandjina approach,
come to answer his call.
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| Mowanjum Elder |
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Home on the Outback
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Boy, Shaping
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