"Djapu Miny'tji", Australian Aboriginal Bark Painting in natural ochre pigments

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"Djapu Miny'tji", Australian Aboriginal Bark Painting in natural ochre pigments

About the Item

This exquisite painting, executed in natural ochres on dried bark, comes from the Arnhem land area of Northern Australia. The bark painting tradition stretches back thousands of years. Read more about it here: http://bit.ly/1HMTZdy The work is sold in a black wooden frame. In this particular work, the cross hatching grid pattern is the sacred design for the fresh waters of the Djapu clan at their homeland Wandawuy now an outstation about 150 kilometres south of Yirrkala and inland from Blue Mud Bay. This Djapu clan outstation (and spiritual residence for ancestral beings Måna the shark and Bolu the Thunderman) is surrounded by permanent freshwater. Rains inspired by the actions of Bolu feed the rivers and fill the billabongs. Catfish and mussels, freshwater crayfish and others feed the Yolu and wild life. The waters are home for the shark Måna. The grid refers to the landscape of Wandawuy, a network of billabongs surrounded by ridges and high banks. Its structure also having reference at one level to woven fish traps. Ancestral Hunters set a trap here to snare the shark but to no avail. These Yolngu people are called Bårngbarng and Monu'a who came to cut the trees named Gu'uwu, Gathurrmakarr, Nyenyi, Rulwirrika and Gananyarra, all Dhuwa trees. They used straight young trees and cut them with their axes called Gayma'arri, Bitjutju. Areas of the river are staked by the Yolu and branches interwoven through them. Then the water is polluted by a particular pulped bark that anaesthetises the Gaal that hobble to the surface. With nets constructed similarly to the the beak of Galumay the Pelican the Yolu wade through the waters scooping up the fish. It has been fished since ancestral times. Gaal the catfish, totem for the Djapu is ceremonially sung as is Galumay the pelican. Both these species frequent the waters of Wandawuy. Måna the Ancestral Shark in its epic travels comes through this way. These ancestors try to trap Måna in the freshwater by means of these traps in the waterways. They fail. The powers and physical strength of the shark overcome the efforts of mere mortals. Måna’s ire and thrashing tail smash the trap and muddy the water. They witness however the strength of Måna and sing his actions, the thrashing of his tail for one, the muddying or contamination of the water. The grid lines having reference to the trap, the cross hatched squares referring to differing states of the freshwater, the source of Djapu soul. At ceremony appropriate participants for mortuary rites enter the shelter (woven together like the unsuccessful trap) where the deceased has been lying in state. Sacred spears tipped with stingray barbs, manifestations of Måna’s teeth, stand up alongside the shelter. The sacred song cycles of Måna in the water at Wandawuy are intoned with music from the Yidaki (didjeridu) and Bilma (clapsticks). At the prescribed time at the conclusion of ceremony the dancers crash through the deceased’s shelter imitating the actions of Måna at the trap. This action has reference to the release of the deceased’s soul, back to the sacred waters of Wandawuy to be reunited with its ancestors awaiting rebirth. Wandawuy literally means place of the sharks head where in the larger context of the song cycles of Mana’s journey his head came to rest after being butchered and distributed through the land. The artist is ‘playing’ with the sacred design to create a completely new pattern suggested by the swirling combinations of different elements of this water.

Creator:
Rerrkirrwana Munungurr (Artist)
Dimensions:
Height: 11.82 in (30 cm)Width: 10.24 in (26 cm)Depth: 1.38 in (3.5 cm)
Style:
Organic Modern (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Wood,Painted
Place of Origin:
Australia
Period:
21st Century
Date of Manufacture:
2014
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: f136821510133237993fs