A Man Called Yarra
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Stan “Yarra” Yarramunua: artist, musician, actor, social worker, businessman.
From growing up in poverty in Swan Hill – and sometimes on the road, with his itinerant father – Yarra had a tumultuous and often rough childhood. He learnt early how to lift a wallet or two, and grew into a ratbag who looked set to follow in his father’s footsteps: fall into one too many skirmishes with the law; have one too many drinks, sliding down the path to alcoholism.
Yet after years of addiction, Stan gave up drinking, discovered painting and found his true name of Yarramunua. Soon he was selling his traditional paintings, and hand-crafted clapsticks, didgeridoos and boomerangs, at markets across Melbourne. He opened one of the first privately owned Aboriginal art galleries in Australia, and represented Indigenous artists from around the country, including from the desert regions.
Today, Yarra is an internationally renowned artist and performer. But he hasn’t forgotten his roots: he is committed to improving the lives of Aboriginal kids in his home town, and has helped many young Indigenous men find their way out of addiction and despair. This is an inspiring story of a remarkable man overcoming hardship, striving for a better life, and reclaiming his ancestry.
‘This may be a written memoir, but Indigenous artist Stan Yarramunua has a plain-speaking, conversational style that comes across so clearly it’s actually like listening to his story, which is a rites-of-passage tale of growing up tough and wild.’ —Sydney Morning Herald
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Yarramunua started painting more than 20 years ago, and then began selling paintings, didgeridoos and clap sticks at markets and galleries. The relationships he built through this led him to represent Victorian Aboriginal artists. Yarramunua also worked in the desert over several years and built strong relationships with Aboriginal desert artists, and he began representing those Aboriginal artists in Melbourne too. In 2008, Yarramunua was proud to open among the first privately owned and managed Aboriginal galleries in the world, at 500 Collins St, in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. Soon after, in 2011, he opened a country cousin gallery in Daylesford. In 2016, Yarramunua opened a gallery in the hip and busy heart of St. Kilda, located at 149 Acland Street. Yarramunua has graced the stage of MCG and completed several commissioned works for private companies and charities. He continues to paint and represent artists from across Australia in Art Yarramunua Gallery.
Robert Hillman’s memoir, The Boy in the Green Suit, won the Australian National Biography Award for 2004. His 2007 biography, My Life as a Traitor, written with Zarah Ghahramani, appeared in numerous overseas editions. His first collaboration with Najaf Mazari, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif has been a set text in many schools. He is also the author of Gurrumul: His Life and Music and the novels Joyful and The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted.
