Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Morning Star Painter (1980)

play May contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
clip Harvesting the bark

This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Djiwul (Jack) Wunuwun cuts bark from a tree in the bush, with an axe. The narrator (David Gulpilil) says the best time to get the bark is in the wet season.

Curator’s notes

World famous bark painter Jack Wunuwun harvests a sheet of bark from a tall straight tree in the bush. He will strip the skin off the bark, smooth the surface with a knife and leave it to dry in the sun. The bark then becomes the base for his painting.