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YURIYAL BRIDGEMAN
Uma (The Kiss) is a durational video work combining audio recordings of Yuri men and women singing songs for an event known as ‘Tanem Het’, literally meaning ‘to turn one’s head’, traditionally performed as a courting ceremony.
In Yuri language, ‘Uma’ is the word given to define a kiss, involving oral and nasal sounds as the muscles contract, pucker, and release. The title work for this exhibition, a durational video piece dubbed by audio recorded with members of his tribespeople, Yuri, in the Simbu Province of Papua New Guinea, the artist combines his performative painting practice with the sounds of a traditional courting ceremony know as ‘konare’ (turning of the head).
Yuriyal Bridgeman has for the past decade been deeply engaged with the Kuman, the tribal shield of his Yuri people and extended Highlands region, otherwise known as the Waghi Shield. His ‘Shield Paintings’ constitute a continuation of this traditional men’s practice, through the blessing of cultural knowledge by his contemporaries and elders, informing his introduction to modern geometric and minimalist painting.
In 2023, Yuriyal had been gifted one of such Kuman shields, unpainted, the image in skeletal form, by an elder from his Yuri tribe. Baring one of the most prominent designs, Arebaa (Sun and Moon) the shield guided the storyline for his recent works.
The symbolism and interaction of the sun and moon feature heavily throughout Bridgemans recent painting, sculptural and video work, as celestial, tribal and personal reflections.
In this exhibition, Bridgeman refers to the shield as an extension of the body, ripe fruit as something of the flesh, and the bird as visitor, as guardian, and revelation. Bridgemans first considerable venture into figurative painting, this body of work also acknowledges figures of both poetic and real-life influence, the tradie, love birds, and death.
Yuriyal’s self-portraits reference the sporting field, with facial markings belonging to one of his personal shield designs, ‘Are’ (The Sun). The act of painting is a full-bodied dance, the surface a place to leave traces – Are Baa Uma, where the Sun kisses the Moon.
Yuriyal Bridgeman is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Australia and Papua New Guinea who graduated from the Queensland College of Art. He works in photographic portraiture, video, sculpture, installation, drawing, and painting. Bridgeman’s photographic and new media works can be positioned in social commentary and portraiture; his painting practice is strongly influenced by his connection to men’s practices of his tribe, Yuri Alaiku of the Simbu province of PNG, in the form of shield paintings. He co-founded the artist collective Haus Yuriyal (Jiwaka, PNG) with his family members, in which he serves the role as artist and facilitator of the group’s contemporary art projects.
| Friday 21 Jun | 6:30PM – 9:30PM |
| Saturday 22 Jun | 5PM – 9:30PM |
| Sunday 23 Jun | 5PM – 9:30PM |
| Friday 28 Jun | 6:30PM – 9:30PM |
| Saturday 29 Jun | 5PM – 9:30PM |
| Sunday 30 Jun | 5PM – 8:30PM |
| Friday 05 Jul | 5PM – 9:30PM |
| Saturday 06 Jul | 5PM – 9:30PM |
| Sunday 07 Jul | 5PM – 8:30PM |
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Yugambeh Language Region and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People of the Gold Coast.
We recognise their continuing connection and contributions to country and culture.
We pay respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
