Artiste : David Brian

Titre de l'œuvre : Barlangu (Shark)

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 132x70cm

Référence de la peinture : 1129-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
Barlangu (shark) is one of the most important ancestors for Balngarra clan. During the creation period, barlangu travelled with barrangu (Saratoga). It journeyed from Yirrkala in east Arnhem Land and transformed into a rock at Malnjangarnak, which is also called bulmaji (hammerhead shark). Barlangu shares a song line with wankurr, a sacred mardayin ceremonial dilly bag and also kunkaninj (digging stick), which is used to dig yams. These totemic ancestors are all duwa moiety and share the same songline. Barlangu connects coastal and inland country. “It’s the same saltwater from the Blyth River to Kinoedjanga”, Balang explains. “It can be really dangerous to get too close to that water. If you’re in a plane or boat, it’ll suck up that water and try and kill you. You must always go around.”

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak

Titre de l'œuvre : Waterholes (Kubumi)

Pigments naturels sur tronc d’eucalyptus

Format : 156 x 19cm

Référence de la peinture : 46-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
Kubumi is a sacred site on the Mann River. This is its story, as told by a ritual manager of the site, Lulu Laradjbi, with the authority of her husband Mick Kubarkku, a land owner of that country. Nabulumo is their son. Ngalyod the Rainbow Serpent pierced the rock at a place called Bolerrhlerrh and journeyed downstream from there to Ngalmalanj. The camping place Kubumi is downstream from there but at Ngalmalanj the serpent was blocked. It pushed down into the riverbed, pushed into the earth, sinking down forever. Now it lives under the rocky riverbed. That site continues downstream. Upstream is the site Molerrhlerrh, which has a waterfall and a big waterhole. There the serpent moved inside, downstream, to the lower region.

During the dry season at Kubumi, the Mann River shrinks to a series of deep waterholes, exposing the tunnels through the rocky outcrop that interconnect the pools.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Susan Marawarr

Titre de l'œuvre : Wak Wak

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 146 x 67 cm

Référence de la peinture : 1581-12

Explications pour cette œuvre :
This painting depicts a sacred site at 'Kurrurldul', an outstation south of Maningrida. The 'rarrk', or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called 'Djimarr'.

Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The 'Djimarr' rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.

The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor 'Djimarr'. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred 'Mardayin' ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Deborah Wurrkidj

Titre de l'œuvre : Wak Wak

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 175x46cm

Référence de la peinture : 831-18

Explications pour cette œuvre :
This painting depicts a sacred site at 'Kurrurldul', an outstation south of Maningrida. The 'rarrk', or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called 'Djimarr'. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The 'Djimarr' rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.

The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor 'Djimarr'. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred 'Mardayin' ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak

Titre de l'œuvre : Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 99cm x 50cm

Référence de la peinture : 1429-16

Explications pour cette œuvre :
This painting depicts a sacred site at 'Kurrurldul', an outstation south of Maningrida. The 'rarrk', or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called 'Djimarr'.

Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The 'Djimarr' rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.

The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor 'Djimarr'. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred 'Mardayin' ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Deborah Wurrkidj

Titre de l'œuvre : Wak Wak

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 159x55.5cm

Référence de la peinture : 1079-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
This painting depicts a sacred site at 'Kurrurldul', an outstation south of Maningrida. The 'rarrk', or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called 'Djimarr'. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The 'Djimarr' rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.

The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor 'Djimarr'. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred 'Mardayin' ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak

Titre de l'œuvre : Mimih Spirit

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 149x56cm

Référence de la peinture : 1241-18

Explications pour cette œuvre :
Aboriginal people in the rocky environments of western and south-western Arnhem Land tell of the existence of tall slender spirits which they call Mimih. The name Mimih is well known throughout the top end of the Northern Territory. Aboriginal groups living in the rocky environments of western and southern Arnhem Land share mythology which relates to the beings known as Mimih. These groups include the Kunwok chain of languages, and also Rembarrnga, Dalabon and Djawoyn language groups. Other groups of people with familial and ceremonial links to rock country inhabitants are also familiar with the idea of the Mimih.

In recent years the Mimih has become a topic in the repertoires of some artists among the Kunibídji people, speakers of the Ndjébbana language and the traditional landowners of the Maningrida area. The people of western Arnhem Land believe that Mimih spirits live in a social organisation similar to Aboriginal people and that Mimih society existed before humans. 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. The song and dance style of western Arnhem Land Aboriginal people is still known today as Mimih style. This term is also used by Aboriginal people further to the east in Central Arnhem Land when describing the dance and song of their western neighbours.

Despite the usual descriptions of Mimih as being benign towards humans, sometimes however they are attributed with mischievous and dangerous qualities, capable of kidnapping and even killing humans. 'Clever' men, or Aboriginal men with supernatural powers, sometimes befriend the Mimih and are taught their songs and dances and shown their secret places. The Mimih are like people using the same kinship terms and speaking the same language as the local Aboriginal group. They live in families like humans and it is said that some of these Aboriginal men with mystical knowledge have spent time living with them in their camps.

Mimih are however, terribly thin, having necks so slender that a stiff breeze would be fatal. For this reason they emerge only on windless days and nights to hunt. As soon as a breeze develops, the Mimih are said to run back to their rocky caverns and disappear inside.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Jack Nawilil

Titre de l'œuvre : Mandjabu

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 110x50cm

Référence de la peinture : 614-18

Explications pour cette œuvre :
This painting depicts manjabu (conical fish trap). It is placed in the river with fish fences on either side and the fish swim in and get trapped. They after often made from a thick jungle vine called milil, but sometimes softer fibres are used, such as sedge grass, to make smaller traps.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Jack Nawilil

Titre de l'œuvre : Kunkarninj (yam stick)

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 104x45cm

Référence de la peinture : 1352-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
This is kunkaninj (digging stick) from my country at Koenidjangka. Kunkaninj is used to dig yams, but is also an important Duwa moiety totemic ancestor. It shares the same songline as barlangu (shark) and wankurr (sacred Mardayin ceremonial dilly bag).

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : John Bulunbulun

Titre de l'œuvre : Bakarra

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 114x66cm

Provenance et certificat : centre d'art aborigène de Maningrida

Référence de la peinture : 1114-09

Explications pour cette œuvre :
Johnny Bulunbulun (1945-2009) was a senior member of the Ganalbingu group and one of the most important singers and ceremonial men in north-central Arnhem Land. His clan lands lie in the Arafura swamp area, although he lived with the Burarra people at Wurdeja. This painting depicts a set of sacred stones, called bakarra, at a site called Gutijwirrka. The bars at the top and bottom edges of the painting represent the expansiveness of Ganalbingu country. Bakarra is in the middle of a flowing river. "They always there." Warrnyu, the flying fox, passes over it and alights. "He go to stone. Sit down on the stone." The round flower-like clusters of dots represent bat excrements.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Raphael Wurrkidj

Titre de l'œuvre : Djulng

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 132.5x32cm

Référence de la peinture : 838-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
The bones are Djulng at Naborlkabotme. Djulng refers to the bones of dead Ancestral beings. There are some in a hole in the rock at this place.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Kay Lindjuwanga

Titre de l'œuvre : Milmilngkan

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 195 x 63 cm

Provenance et certificat : centre d'art aborigène de Maningrida

Référence de la peinture : 2168-08

© Photo : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Kay Lindjuwanga

Titre de l'œuvre : Milmilngkan

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 202 x 73 cm

Provenance et certificat : centre d'art aborigène de Maningrida

Référence de la peinture : 2515-08

© Photo : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Kay Lindjuwanga

Titre de l'œuvre : Milmilngkan

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 148 x 54 cm

Provenance et certificat : centre d'art aborigène de Maningrida

Référence de la peinture : 6007-10

© Photo : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Sylvia Marrgawaidj

Titre de l'œuvre : Mat

Pandanus Fibre and Natural Dyes

Format : 200cm diameter fringe, 121 diameter woven area

Référence de la peinture : 3093-18

Explications pour cette œuvre :
Mats can vary greatly. Artists commonly use a mix of naturally dyed and undyed fibre to create a striking variation of coloured bands. Some artists also incorporate different types of looping to produce different patterns and textured finishes. Each type of mat, fibre bag, basket and dilly bag has its own name in the various languages spoken in the Maningrida region.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Kay Lindjuwanga

Titre de l'œuvre : Buluwana at Dilebang

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 143 x 65 cm

Provenance et certificat : centre d'art aborigène de Maningrida

Référence de la peinture : 368-10

© Photo : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Rosina Gunjarrwanga

Titre de l'œuvre : Wak Wak

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 112x50cm

Référence de la peinture : 353-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
This painting depicts a sacred site at 'Kurrurldul', an outstation south of Maningrida. The 'rarrk', or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called 'Djimarr'. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The 'Djimarr' rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.

The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor 'Djimarr'. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred 'Mardayin' ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Deborah Wurrkidj

Titre de l'œuvre : Lorrkon (Hollow Log)

Pigments naturels sur tronc d’eucalyptus

Format : 202 x 18 x 19

Référence de la peinture : 54-20

Explications pour cette œuvre :
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 involves 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 log is made from a termite hollowed Stringybark tree (Eucalyptus tetradonta) and is decorated with totemic emblems. The western Arnhem Land version of the Lorrkon ceremony involves the singing of sacred songs to the accompaniment of karlikarli, a pair of sacred boomerangs used as rhythm instruments. During the final evening of the ceremony, dancers decorate themselves with kapok down, or today, cotton wool and conduct much of the final segments of the ceremony in the secrecy of a restricted mens’ camp. The complete ceremony may stretch over a period of two weeks, but on the last night the bones of the deceased, which have been kept in a bark container or today wrapped in cloth and kept in a suitcase are taken out, are painted with red ochre and placed inside the hollow log. This ceremony may take place many years after the person has died.

At first light on the final morning of the Lorrkon ceremony, the men appear, coming out of their secret bush camp carrying the pole towards the women’s camp. The two groups call to each other using distinct ceremonial calls. The women have prepared a hole for the pole to be placed into and when it is stood upright, women in particular kinship relationships to the deceased dance around the pole in a jumping/shuffling motion.

The Lorrkon is then often covered with a tarpaulin and left to slowly decay.

The design depicted on this lorrkkon is wak (Black Crow Ancestor), which relates to a sacred site at 'Kurrurldul', an outstation south of Maningrida. The 'rarrk', or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called 'Djimarr'. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The 'Djimarr' rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.

The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor 'Djimarr'. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred 'Mardayin' ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Kenan Namunjdja

Titre de l'œuvre : Kunkurra (spiral wind)

Pigments naturels sur tronc d’eucalyptus

Format : 142x18.5x17cm

Référence de la peinture : 321-20

Explications pour cette œuvre :
'Kunkurra', the spiralling wind is associated with several sites in the Kardbam clan estate. On one level, this painting can be interpreted as a depiction of the kinds of mini-cyclones common during the wet season in Arnhem Land, where the artist lives. In this painting, Kunkurra also relates specifically to a site called Bilwoyinj, near Mankorlod.

At this site, two of the most important Kuninjku creation beings, a father and son known as na-korrkko, are believed to have hunted and eaten a goanna. They left some of the goanna fat behind at the site, which turned into the rock that still stands there today. The word Bilwoyinj, which is the name of this site, also refers to the fat of the goanna. Bilwoyinj site is also a ceremonial ground for a ceremony called Yabbaduruwa, a major ceremony owned by the Yirridja patrimoiety. The Yabbaduruwa ceremony is primarily concerned with initiation, land ownership and promoting the cyclical regeneration of the human and natural worlds.

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Jack Nawilil

Titre de l'œuvre : Ngalkodjek (daluk) woman ceremonial object

Paperbark (Melaleuca Quinquenervia) with Natural Dyes

Format : 176x8x8cm

Référence de la peinture : 978-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
The following information comes from an interview with Jack Nawilil transcribed by linguists Murray Garde and Margaret Carew in December 2017. The narratives represented in Nawilil’s artworks are extremely complex and often antithetical to Western knowledge systems. His artworks reference and manifest multiple places, clans and events that span vast distances and timeframes. To audiences who are not initiated and socialised in the local practices and history, the true and complete meaning of these artworks cannot be fully grasped. His artworks challenge the viewer to grapple with a different way of being in, and understanding, the world.

This one here [ceremonial object], I have drawn my own personal designs on it. This represents a woman, she travelled a long way, all the way from Elcho Island. This ceremonial object is one of the women, her name is Ngalkodjek. She came this way, to the west from north-east Arnhem Land. She has many things: kunkaninj (digging stick) that she walked with across the land, and kunmadj (dilly bags). She named and created the country as she walked.

There is another one however. Same story, but it is a different one and represents a food plant, it’s from the saltwater country. In my country at Koenidjangka way. I made the plant food emblem, and the name of that plant is manbingkanj. It is a sacred thing from the Mardayin ceremony, but I have adapted it to make it a secular version. This thing here, I made it, this object is called karlanj and it represents a plant food, manme.

© Photo Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts
© Text : Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Jack Nawilil

Titre de l'œuvre : Ngalkodjek (daluk) woman ceremonial object

Fibre Sculpture, plumes d’oiseau, cheveux

Format : 175 x 100cm

Référence de la peinture : 1402-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
The following information comes from an interview with Jack Nawilil transcribed by linguists Murray Garde and Margaret Carew in December 2017. The narratives represented in Nawilil’s artworks are extremely complex and often antithetical to Western knowledge systems. His artworks reference and manifest multiple places, clans and events that span vast distances and timeframes. To audiences who are not initiated and socialised in the local practices and history, the true and complete meaning of these artworks cannot be fully grasped. His artworks challenge the viewer to grapple with a different way of being in, and understanding, the world.

This one here [ceremonial object], I have drawn my own personal designs on it. This represents a woman, she travelled a long way, all the way from Elcho Island. This ceremonial object is one of the women, her name is Ngalkodjek. She came this way, to the west from north-east Arnhem Land. She has many things: kunkaninj (digging stick) that she walked with across the land, and kunmadj (dilly bags). She named and created the country as she walked.

There is another one however. Same story, but it is a different one and represents a food plant, it’s from the saltwater country. In my country at Koenidjangka way. I made the plant food emblem, and the name of that plant is manbingkanj. It is a sacred thing from the Mardayin ceremony, but I have adapted it to make it a secular version. This thing here, I made it, this object is called karlanj and it represents a plant food, manme.

© Photo Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts
© Text : Maningrida Arts

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Artiste : Jack Nawilil

Titre de l'œuvre : Ngalkodjek (daluk) woman ceremonial object

Fibre Sculpture, plumes d’oiseau, cheveux

Format : 184x8x8cm

Référence de la peinture : 979-19

Explications pour cette œuvre :
The following information comes from an interview with Jack Nawilil transcribed by linguists Murray Garde and Margaret Carew in December 2017. The narratives represented in Nawilil’s artworks are extremely complex and often antithetical to Western knowledge systems. His artworks reference and manifest multiple places, clans and events that span vast distances and timeframes. To audiences who are not initiated and socialised in the local practices and history, the true and complete meaning of these artworks cannot be fully grasped. His artworks challenge the viewer to grapple with a different way of being in, and understanding, the world.

This one here [ceremonial object], I have drawn my own personal designs on it. This represents a woman, she travelled a long way, all the way from Elcho Island. This ceremonial object is one of the women, her name is Ngalkodjek. She came this way, to the west from north-east Arnhem Land. She has many things: kunkaninj (digging stick) that she walked with across the land, and kunmadj (dilly bags). She named and created the country as she walked.

There is another one however. Same story, but it is a different one and represents a food plant, it’s from the saltwater country. In my country at Koenidjangka way. I made the plant food emblem, and the name of that plant is manbingkanj. It is a sacred thing from the Mardayin ceremony, but I have adapted it to make it a secular version. This thing here, I made it, this object is called karlanj and it represents a plant food, manme.

© Photo Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist & Maningrida Arts
© Text : Maningrida Arts

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