Zugub Alick Tipoti

Kazilayg

Fibreglass resin

100 x 350 x 120cm

This is a Kazilayg, which means pregnant dugong. After it gives birth to a new infant, it will then be known a Nanayg. When the calf is fully grown, we then call it Apu Kaz. This particular Kazilayg is carrying twins, a very rare occasion.

Rex Milton Greeno

Paper Bark Canoe

Paper bark

286 x 55 x 25cm

The rugged southern coastline of Tasmania includes steep mountainous areas and high cliffs which fall directly into the sea, with few beaches and many rivers to cross. Early Tasmanian Aborigines had to have some type of water craft to hunt and explore these areas. No such canoes were used in the northern or eastern waters of Tasmania because of very strong tidal zones.

Merrill Girrabul

Star Handbag

Pandanus

49 x 30 x 10cm

This fibre art, Star basket is a wonderful extension of the ‘sister handbags’ that were made in Gunbalanya during the mission times. They are rarely made today and tend to be created using a coil technique. Here, Merrill has followed the example of her mother, fibre artist, Jill Ngangmirra, by creating a work in an
established form but greatly embellishing it with complex knotting and innovative design. The method of pandanus ‘knotting’ - is a relatively recent innovation in Indigenous fibre art.

Ian Waldron

Language learned, culture regained

Mixed media

200 x 190 x 100cm

This work is a statement about how important learning language is to the retention of culture. I have used modern and Western painting techniques to depict my clan totem, and Kurtjar language. I hope that children will view this work and relate their linguistic traditions to the vibrancy of contemporary Australian culture.

George Nona

Baiwa Murriw Dhoeri (Waterspout Spiritual Headdress)

Mixed media

97 x 65 x 5cm

There are many forms of Torres Strait dhoeris (headdress). Historically, these dhoeris were worn during ceremonies, rituals and tribal wars, while today they are only worn by dancers on ceremonial occasions.

Janine McAullay Bott

Eagle Landing

Palm fronds, seed pods and feathers

42 x 54 x 46cm

McAullay Bott depicts the eagle as it is preparing to land. This grand bird being the surveyor of the sky, cruising high above, then whooshing down, knowing every movement in it’s land, deaths and birth, the bad times and the good. The eagle is the ultimate owner of freedom, flying high above the earth.

Elaine Wanatjura Lane

Two sisters waiting for the Toyota

Wire, hand-spun wool, raffia, minarri (greybeard grass,) synthetic yarn

overall 122 x 90 x 117cm

Two sisters wait by the side of the road for the Toyota to pick them up to go hunting and grass collecting. We love to go bush, to go for a ride and feel the country shaking us. Who knows what else we might find in that Tjanpi place.

Judy Baypungala

Pandanus Mat

Natural pigments, pandanus spirals

250 x 250 x 5cm

Woven from pandanus leaves, and coloured with natural plant dyes, Baypungala’s skill as a master weaver is evident by the intricacy of design, which incorporates her unique chequered effect- a brilliant and mesmerizing display of colour and texture results.

Dolly Dhimburra Bidingal

Nyumukuniny Bulpu

Pandanus

35 x 33 x 40cm

Nyumukuniny Bulpu’s (small Bulpu’s) were made for small children. The children carry fruits like yams in them when they go bush. The small bulpu’s make it much easier for the children.

Mavis Warrngilna Ganambarr

Mana (Shark)

Pandanus, bush string and shark teeth

30 x 65 x 30cm

Mana (Shark) is my totem. He belongs to Datiwuy clan. My father showed me where Mana lives near the mouth of the Dhalinybuy River, in Arnhem Bay. Once I swam down into his underwater home. My family call me Mana.

David Djarrka Dhamarrandji

Miyalk Mokuy

Synthetic polymer paint on milkwood, bush string and feathers

overall 100 x 600cm

These two mokuy (spirits) started out as men. They were travelling and hunting. They wandered through the bush and collected some food. The mokuy became thirsty and needed to find a big waterhole. When they found the billabong they had an over whelming feeling to go into the water. When they came out of the water, they had transformed into two miyalk (women).

Crusoe Kurddal

Mimih Spirit

Natural pigments on wood

211 x 20 x 20cm

Mimih are credited with instructing the first people with knowledge relating to survival in the rocky environment of the Arnhem Land plateau. Mimih are said to have taught the first humans how to hunt and butcher game and also how to dance, sing and paint.

Clara Nganjmirra

Yawk Yawk

Pandanus,

180 x 370 x 50cm

Clara Nganjmirra worked in collaboration with Julie Nganjmirra and several other artists to create this pandanus yawk yawk. A yawk yawk is a female water spirit which often acts as a guardian of sacred sites. The use of traditional mediums combined with recycled objects enabled this creativity and experimentation with size and form.

Harry Dixon Mptyane

Group of figures

Synthetic polymer paint on wood

Dimensions variable

Running his fingers through the red dirt, Harry explained that the squiggly lines represent lizard tracks: “This one - Perentie Dreaming, my Dreaming.” The figures are a representation of what he would look like when painted up to perform the ceremonies associated with these Dreamings.

Lena Yarinkura

Spider and Spider Web

Bush string, pandanus, feathers, and natural pigments

205 x 214cm

It is well known that Aboriginal Art often depicts images of sacred totems or Dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred, such as Lena Yarinkura’s spider and spider web, also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal Art. Much of the Rock Art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants. They are depicted because of their economic importance and because of their existence in the environment.

Joanne Currie Nalingu

Blood River (Senseless)

Fibreglass

120 x 200cm

Blood River (Senseless) is deliberately discomfiting. However Joanne Currie is drawn to make artwork for powerfully positive reasons - the reaction against a problematic past; the hard won stability in Currie’s existence since she left the Maranoa River, and, a larger commentary on the difficulties in much Indigenous
dysfunction in Australia.

Bob Burruwal

Buya Male

Natural pigments on wood

264 x 20 x 20cm

The Buya Male or ceremonial pole is used for ceremonies of diplomacy. They are offered as a gift of gratitude between clans. The Buya Male is sacred men

Ivan Namirrkki

Lorrkons

Natural pigments on wood

overall 228 x 120 x 60cm

The lorrkon, or bone pole coffin ceremony was the final ceremony in a sequence of mortuary rituals celebrated by the people of Arnhem Land. This ceremony involved the placing of the deceased’s bones into a hollow log which was decorated with painted clan designs and ceremonially placed into the ground where it remained until it slowly decayed over many years. The use of rarrk (crosshatching) all over the surface of the lorrkon creates a shimmering effect, which imbues the piece with a spiritual power.

Wukun Wanambi

Bamurrungu

Natural pigments on wood

197 x 24cm

Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Category Winner

The painting on this larrakitj, the swelling and the incised mark at it’s top, refer to Bamurrungu, a sacred and solitary rock in Trial Bay. It is a white dome in the bay; a round lump of granite with it’s top whitened by roosting birds. The rock is hidden by the molmulpa, or white sea-foam associated with turbulent and agitating waters created by a particular tide and wind. The fish that swim up to Bamurrungu, are referred to as Marparrarr, or milk fish, somewhat like a large mullet.

Girringun Artists

Bagu with Jiman

Ceramics

overall 165 x 410 x 90cm

Based on the traditional fire making implements of the Girringun rainforest Aboriginal people of Far North Queensland, the artists have created artworks made from clay, timber and string to evoke the spirit of the old people.

Traditionally, the firesticks were made up of two parts, the bagu (body) and jiman (sticks). Bagu and jiman were carried from place to place as the camps were moved, and there was a special man whose job was to look after the fire.

Ellarose Savage

Zab and Koki

Ceramic

overall 321 x 23 x 23cm

Zab and Koki - how the garfish broke his beak.

Koki the periwinkle and Zab had a race. Koki had a plan. Swimming very fast, Zab saw Koki infront each time he looked down! Near the beach the last Koki was crawling to the finish. Zab didn’t notice the log and he hit it, breaking his top beak.

The original story was composed by Erub Elder, Mr Kem Kiwat.