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Book Award
In 2016, he won an International Independent Publishers book award (IPPY) in the Multicultural Non-fiction Adult category for his coffee table art book called Reef and Rainforest: An Aboriginal Voice Through Art and Story (Renbro, Sept 2015). He picked up the bronze medal personally in Chicago May 2016.
His book has stories for each painting that give voice to his inspiration for the artwork. Walking barefoot on the land, he says he walks and paints the journey of his stories from childhood till now.
Looking at Munganbana’s work with the vibrant colours and intriguing style, the reader may think that all his life he painted with the reef and rainforest in mind for the purpose of this book. In fact, he painted what inspired him from the landscape, seascape and wildlife around him and his memories of growing up in his cultural environment. Only when we surveyed his huge volume of work did we realize that it reflected the two world heritage areas of reef and rainforest we are blessed to live in.
The painting of the turtle in “River Deep” was Munganbana’s first logo for his Munganbana Aboriginal Art Gallery he set up in 1996. It was in gold and brown colours and he used it to make a metal tile that was inserted in a walkway at West End in Brisbane as part of a community art project. Norman’s fantails are not just a trademark on his art work but he has them on colourful batiks.
When Norman asked me to write this foreword, I wondered what to say. The word that kept coming to my mind over and over again was the word “integrity.” He is honest and has strong moral principles and his walk with God impacts every area of his life including his art. His compassion and understanding are huge. His love of family and community flow through his paintings as does his sense of social responsibility and wanting to make the world a better place to live.
This follows work he has in four coffee table art books – Demozay, Marion (ed.) Gatherings: Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art from Queensland Australia 2001 and her Gatherings 11 in 2006. His paintings were in the Gatherings Exhibition 2001 for CHOGM Brisbane. He had paintings in the book and related exhibition Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest Qld Art Gallery 2003 and his art was also in Eglitis, Anna et al 2000 Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: Now Days – Early Days, Art Works and Legends.
Connection to country is important to Munganbana as an Indigenous author and artist and he wanted to paint his homeland and the animals, birds, plants and sea life that inhabit it. Through this he shows some of the life of his people, history and culture. Rainforest Aboriginal art is coming into its own now, standing alongside the desert art that art lovers have become used to.
Preface
Writing this coffee table art book and seeing a good collection of his art works in print, is a dream come true for Norman (Munganbana). He has been prolific over the last 20 years and this book does not capture all of his work. Some works sold without photos being taken. A steady stream of international buyers has passed through his art gallery over the years as Cairns is a tourist city.
He is ever the artist, ever the dreamer, ever the visionary. However he is also someone who puts legs on his visions and who fulfils his dreams through passion, energy and hard work. I am always at his side, helping him to fulfil his dreams and he helps me to fulfil mine. He is the love of my life.
Barbara Miller, author and sociologist
Brief Author Profile
Munganbana (Mountain Water in Jirrbal) is of the Jirrbal, Bar-Barrum and Wadjanbarra Yidinji tribes of the North Queensland rainforest, a world heritage listed area. His work, which is in collections around the world, reflects the inspiration he draws from the reef, the rainforest, his family, culture and spiritual beliefs. He specializes in acrylic on canvas and limited edition lino prints.
His work speaks of what he sees, what he values and how he interprets his lived world through shape and colour, form and style. You will see the greens and blues of the rainforest, reef and rivers as well as the red and yellow ochre of the earth in his art.
Munganbana’s art is also motivated by his commitment to reconciling Indigenous peoples with the broader Australian society. His work has been seen in other publications but this book is now solely dedicated to his art.
Munganbana is also a passionate advocate for natural and social justice for Australia’s First Nations peoples and a seeker of spiritual healing and justice for all. Together with his wife Barbara, through art and action they have promoted the cause of reconciliation between the country’s first inhabitants and those who have come later. Their quest for truth and reconciliation has also extended to actively campaigning for recognition of the country’s First Peoples in the Australian Constitution, and Munganbana has devoted much of his artistic output in recent years to expressing and promoting these causes.
How did this book come about?
I had written my second book called The European Quest to Find Terra Australis Incognita: Quiros, Torres and Janszoon and launched it in Cairns. I wanted to launch it elsewhere in Australia so Norman told me I needed to launch it on a boat. I thought where in Australia would I find an appropriate boat? In a flash I thought of the Duyfken replica in Freemantle harbour. It is a little known story that Janszoon and the Dutch were the first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil around the Mapoon, Weipa, Aurukun area 164 years before Captain Cook.
Through this picturesque launch, Norman met the contact that introduced him to his publishers.
