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Bandarr
04 August 2008Yalata ga Dhuruputjpi
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Homeland: Dhuruputjpi
Catalogue No:3136G
SP1
Price $2675
54cm X 176cm
Freight & Handling: $50-100
Each bark sold through the ISX website is fitted with a custom made aluminium hanging system. This provides an easy hanging point and is a museum practice conservation technique.
Link to Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre and more information on nuwuyak or bark painting
Detail about this Artwork
Ga`umay is the pelican that inhabits the flood plains at Dhuruputjpi. When the waters begin to dry up and the waterholes become smaller, the cat fish called Ganngal are hunted by Ga`umay. Both the Djapu and Dhudi-Djapu sing in ceremony Ga`umay and Ganngal as totemic species and for increase. The connection between these two clans is mari-gutharra (grandmother -granddaughter). The sacred designs for the Dhudi Djapu clan's freshwater is based on the freshwater reeds peculiar to this billabong known as Dharranggi. The bottom panel of this field is manifest of this sacred plant.
The sacred bunggul (dance) and manikay (song) which embodies Galumay is reserved for very special occasions in Dhudi Djapu and Djapu clan life. Much of the underlying symbolism relies on references to the Pelican's ability to catch fish with its huge bill. In hunting yabbies in the crocodile infested billabongs of Dhuruputjpi the women and children fan out like Pelicans and create a 'dragnet' which leaves little behind. Both Dhudi-Djapu and Djapu clansmen have always used a triangular, scissor-like net made from the bark of the Kurrajong to catch fish imitating their ancestral relation the Pelican.
If a member of the clan has offended against another and is required to be brought to account under Yolngu law the Dhudi-Djapu escorting him to the place of justice will dance the Pelican relying on the qualities of gentle sheperding inherent in the fishing style and bill of this great hunter.
And lastly but most importantly once the long and complicated mortuary rituals of the Yolngu are completed and the spirit of their departed kinsman has been 'sung' through the ancestral songlines of his kinship country back to the 'island of the dead', Buralku, it is the Pelican or fishtrap which catches the soul of the deceased and guides it to its destination and final acqueous resting place.
The identity of Dhudi-Djapu clansperson and country is formed by these constant references in song, ceremony and everyday life to the being and personality of Galumay, not to mention the large numbers of Pelicans who make this area their home. The Dhudi-Djapu and Pelicans continue to share their age-old homeland.
The upper panel of the bark describe the nearby floodplain country of Yalata which also forms part of the Dhudi-Djapu estate but which owes its creation to a different creative source-the Djang'kawu. The plain is tidal and during the wet seasons it is flooded by the rains and tidal surge creating areas of brackish water. During the dry season the grass and black earth dry out. Then the fires come, turning a swamp into a huge plain of cracked black earth. Fresh water springs dot this sun baked plain forming small islands of vegetation and as Rarrandada (the hot time) builds the thirsty birds come to these sacred springs in their thousands. The noise of the gu[urrku or dhanggultji (brolgas) and gurruma=ji (magpie geese) is deafening, the mud scored with their tracks and the sky dark with the flocks of wheeling birds.
The footprints of brolgas in the dried mud of that plain echoes those of the two Djang'kawu sisters when they first traversed that land. The Djang'kawu, created sacred water springs with their digging sticks, a manifestation of themselves in the form of Brolga. During the wet this area is inundated with flood water that disperses with the onset of the dry. The Dhudi Djapu totem of Dhangultji the brolga frequent this area in their hundreds. Evidence of Dhangultji walking from waterhole to waterhole to feed on the prolific and abundant life at these sites is marked in the mud as their footprints are left in the drying mud.
About the Artist
This artist is the great grandson of Dhakiyarr (alleged killer of Constable McColl) and brother (cousin) of David Wirrpunda (youngest draft pick in AFL) and a participant in the Wukidi ceremony in Darwin June 2003.
| Contact Details | |
| Name: | Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre |
| Phone: | 08-8987-1701 |
| FAX: | 08-8987-2701 |
| Email: | art@yirrkala.com |
| WWW: | http://www.yirrkala.com |