Jonathan Jones

Jonathan Jones / Kamilaroi/Wiradjuri people, b.1978; Dr Uncle Stan Grant Sr AM / Wiradjuri people, b.1940 / untitled (giran) 2018 / Bindu-gaany (freshwater mussel shell), gabudha (rush), gawurra (feathers), marrung dinawan (emu egg), walung (stone), wambuwung dhabal (kangaroo bone), wayu (string), wiiny (wood) on wire pins, 48-channel soundscape, eucalyptus oil / Purchased 2018 with funds from Tim Fairfax AC through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Copyright reserved / Photography: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA / View full image

Jonathan Jones
Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi peoples
Australia b.1978

with Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr AM
Wiradjuri people
Australia b.1940

untitled (giran) 2018
Bindu-gaany (freshwater mussel shell), gabudha (rush), gawurra (feathers), marrung dinawan (emu egg), walung (stone), wambuwung dhabal (kangaroo bone), wayu (string), wiiny (wood), 48-channel soundscape
Sound design: Luke Mynott, Sonar Sound
Purchased 2018 with funds from Tim Fairfax AC through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation

This circling murmuration evokes birds in flight and shares cultural knowledge. untitled (giran) 2018 brings the language of the Wiradjuri people of New South Wales to Kurilpa, on the Maiwar (Brisbane) River, together with the sounds of wind, bird calls and breathing. ‘Understanding wind is an important part of understanding Country’. says Jonathan Jones. ‘Winds bring change, knowledge and new ideas to those prepared to listen.’

Jones’s collaboration with Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr draws on the concept of giran, which describes the winds and change, as well as feelings of fear and apprehension. Traditional tools are at the heart of the artwork. Bound to each tool with handmade string is a small composition of feathers gathered by people from across Australia. The installation is composed of six tool types. Like the winds, Wiradjuri philosophy divides them into male and female groups: bagaay – an emu eggshell spoon; bindu-gaany – a freshwater mussel scraper; waybarra – a weaving start; bingal – a bone awl; dhala-ny – a wooden spear point; and galigal – a stone knife. Each tool has limitless potential.

Jones worked with community and many different collaborators to craft the tiny ‘wings’, bringing people together to enhance connections to land, culture and language.

Acknowledgments

The artist acknowledges Aunty Betty Grant and Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr AM; the Bathurst Wiradyuri and Aboriginal Community Elders Group, including Uncle Bill Allen Jnr Dinawan Dyirribang and Uncle Brian Grant Maliyan; the late Aunty June Barker and Uncle Roy Barker; the late Uncle Albert Mullett; Uncle Geoff Anderson; Uncle Charles ‘Chicka’ Madden; Aunty Yvonne Koolmatrie; Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin; Aunty Julie Freeman; Uncle Badger Bates; Aunty Lorraine Connelly-Northey; Uncle Allan Murray; and Aunty Maroochy Barambah.

Thank you to Lille Madden; Lachlan McDaniel; Luke Mynott, Wes Chew, Julian Wessels & Candace Wise of Sonar Sound; the Hands On Weavers from Wagga Wagga, in particular Aunty Lorraine Tye and Aunty Joyce Hampton; John Kaldor AO and the Kaldor Public Art Projects team, in particular Monique Watkins; and Genevieve O’Callaghan. Thank you to the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney, and Professor Larissa Behrendt, Matthew Walsh and Cassie Willis.

Thank you to Carol Cooper; Leanne & Darryl Cowie; Nici Cumpston; Judy & Tony Gyss; Sonya Holowell; Liam Keenan; Sara Khan; Chris Koolmatrie; Isaac Lindsay; Enoch Mailangi; Emily McDaniel; Neil Meyrick; Georgia Mokak; Kent Morris & Tiffany Kommedal; Bernice Mumbulla; Simon Penrose; Thea Perkins; Rachel Piercy; Gabriella Roy; Taree Sansbury; Elin Thomas; James Tylor; and Kassidy Waters.

For answering the callout for feathers, thank you to Jan Allen; Deborah Anderson; Kay Andonopoulos; K. Atkens; Lara Bamundo & Annie Dennis Children’s Centre; Timo Barabas; Jacqui Bennett; Vanessa Berry; Kathryn Bird & Ross Gibson; Madeleine Bromley; Heather Bullard; Barbara Campbell; Seth Carr; J Christian; Natalie Cleary; Vikki Clingan; Alison Clouston; Catherine Clover; Nicky Court & Middle Harbour Public School & Northern Nursery School; Alexandra Cowie; K & A Crawford; James Culkin; Leissa & Peter Dane; Heather Davidson; Dallin Day, Sienna Griffiths, Anne O’Neill, Jamiee Woodbridge & Belconnen High School; Fiorella & Phillip de Boos-Smith; Max Delany; Sandra Dodds; Adrienne Doig; Katie Edgerley & Terry Conway; S. Edwards; Linda Elliott; Aaron Ellis, Grace Ellis & Isaac Ellis; L Ellmoos; Mark England; Arlette Exton; Tobhiyah Feller; Megan Fizell; Ellen Forsyth; Toni Grant; Simon Grimes; Sarah Gurich;Haas; Terhi Hakola; Gill Hazleton; Jan & Wal Heinrich; Kate, Stella & Violet Hofman; Maree Hunt; Gordon Jamieson; Jarjum Preschool Group, Gumnut Gardens; Wendy Jones; Joan Kennedy; Roland King; Susie Lachal; Grace Lancken; Martin Awa Clarke Langdon; Anne Lazberger; Michelle Maartensz; Karen Maber; Fiona MacDonald; Vanessa Macris & Harmonie Henderson-Brown; Leigh MacRitchie; Myra Maloney; Bridie Marks; Gillian Marsden & Axel Meiss; Stella Maynard; Alice & Mike McAuley; Tim Melville; Helen Milgate; Romlie Mokak; Victoria Monk; Maryrose Morgan; Laura Murray Cree; Kylie Neagle; Sarina Noordhuis, Saskia Hirschausen & Nikolaas Hirschausen; Linda Notley; Louis O’Connor; Poppy O’Connor; Kerry Ann O’Reilly; Sharron Okines; Kate Isobel Partner; Amanda Peacock; April Phillips; Cara Pinchbeck, Amirah Sergas & Callyn Sergas; Sarah Pinferi, Peter Whatmough, Oscar Whatmough & Sofia Whatmough; Mary Preece; Hannah Presley; Raushan Reehal; Kate Riley; Cameron Robbins; J Robinson; Kelly Robson & Jane Maxfield; Elise Routledge; Stephanie Scroope & Sierra Jurd; Carmen Seaby, Maya Cashworth-Seaby & Athena Cashworth-Seaby; Wesley Shaw; Wilfred Shawcross & Tove Shawcross; Eileen Slarke; Paula, Adrienne & Nadia Slattery; Hannah Snow; Madeleine K. Snow; Carolyn Sullivan; Jennifer Sutton; Nicki Taws; Tim Throsby; K Tok; Emily Valentine; Ilaria Vanni; Robyn Walden; Shae Leslie Watkins; Eleanor Whitworth & Arlen Briggs; Dot Wilkin; Natasha Wills; Suzette Worden; and Susan Wyndham.

This project was assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the NSW Government through Create NSW; the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund; and by Carriageworks through the Solid Ground program.