Barayuwa Mununggurr
Yarrinya
Natural pigments on bark
85 x 81cm
This painting is associated with the ancestral events relating to the death of the ancestral whale called Mirinyungu, on the beaches of Barayuwa’s mother’s clan saltwater estate of Yarrinya, within Blue Mud Bay.
Mary Punchi Clement
Djulinya
Natural pigments on bark
21 x 15cm
This work depicts the Djulinya who are beautiful female ghost spirits with long shining hair, light copper skin and feet that face the wrong way. The Djulinya can be heard in the mangroves popping seeds from the mangrove trees which they throw at passing men in order to entrance them so they will fall in love and never be seen again.
Barrupu Yunupingu
Untitled
Natural pigments on bark
159 x 87cm
Barrupu’s rendering of her Gumatj clan’s fire designs are reminiscent of the earliest north east Arnhem Land bark paintings in existence. These ribbons of ‘fire’ emulate the form of both the fire and the saltwater flow in which it burns at the Gumatj estate of Biranybirany.
Mulkun Wirrpanda
Honey at Gawarratja
Natural pigments on bark
230 x 47cm
In country that edges into Dhudi Djapu, clan land on this estate is country associated with Dhalwangu clan lore. It is a Honey site of ancestral times sung by the Yirritja. Icons of the sugar bag, a manifestation of this deep seated knowledge are depicted. The events that took place here give the Dhalwangu and associates spiritual rites of country.
Wanyubi Marika
Djang’kawu
Natural pigments on bark
140 x 64cm
Yalangbara is Rirratjingu clan country on coast, south of Yirrkala and where the Dhuwa moiety creator beings, the Djang’kawu first arrived from their point of departure of the mythical island of the dead, Buralku. The Djang’kawu, two sisters with their brother, ascended the dunes from the beach and on the other side performed the first ritual proclaiming land there for the Rirratjingu. Not far from the shore of Port Bradshaw, the Djang’kawu embarked on what was to become the epic creation mythology for the Dhuwa clans.
Garawan Wanambi
Marrangu
Natural pigments on bark
145 x 59cm
Garawan is a Marrakulu clan man.His sacred rendering of the Marrangu clan belongs to his mother’s mother’s people who share similar templates with his own clan’s mythologies. This is a design for the coastal country of Ramangirr. His fields of diamonds refuse to conform to a regularity of pattern. The design
disguises a floating hollow log in a sea of honey and mixed waters with evidence of sun-rays playing on the surface; a sense of relief and wellbeing after tumultuous episodes of creation and a meeting out of the law.
Djirrirra Wunungmurra
Yukuwa
Natural pigments on bark
186 x 69cm
Yukuwa is one of the artist’s name(s) and Yukuwa is the topic of this work. It is almost a self-portrait. This work is a reference to Yirritja renewal ceremony which is by definition a shared communion of Yirritja moiety clans which does not relate to circumcision or mortuary rites. Traditionally, the invitation to such a ceremony is presented as an object in the form of a yam with strings emanating from it with feathered flowers at the end.
Marrnyula Mununggurr
Ganybu
Natural pigments on bark
62 x 33cm
The cross hatching grid pattern is the sacred design for the freshwaters of the Djapu clan at their homeland Wandawuy now an outstation about 150 kilometres south of Yirrkala and inland from Blue Mud Bay. The grid refers to the landscape of Wandawuy, a network of billabongs surrounded by ridges and high banks. Its structure also has reference to woven fish traps and pelican beak-like scoops called Ganybu.
Gunybi Ganambarr
Lorr - Home of the Lightning snake
Natural pigments on bark (incised)
200 x 84cm
The ancestral Lightning Snake, Mundukul, has been depicted emerging from its watery hole, Lorr. This, the serpent’s residence is an area of flood plain that drains into Blue Mud Bay close to the Dhalwangu saltwater site of Garraparra. The flood plain is known as Baraltja. With the onset of the wet season freshwater is ‘tasted’ by Mundukul who stands on its tail to herald the event of new season by spitting lightning into the sky.
Glen Namundja
Kunabibbe Ceremony at Manmoyi
Natural pigments on bark
184 x 52cm
Telstra Bark Painting Award Winner
The site of this Dreaming is the ceremony ground near Manmoyi outstation. The image relates to a time when the men of the area where conducting a Kunabibbe Ceremony. Despite the ceremony being strictlymens business, two daluk (Aboriginal women) went to the ceremony grounds when the Kunabibbi was being performed. Ngalyod (Rainbow serpent) saw this and was angry. He rose up and killed the two women, who are depicted within the coil of the serpent’s body.