Click to enlargeb. 1980
- Region
- Arnhem Land
- Community
- Dhuruputjpi
- Language group
- Yolŋu – Dhuḏi-Djapu; Maŋgalili
Ganybu, 2022
etched aluminium
75 x 75 cm
$3,500
- Provenance
- Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala, NT, Cat No. 1103-22 Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Buku Larrnggay Mulka Centre
- Artwork story
- This piece was created after the exhibition 'Murrŋiny – stories of metal from the east'. This exhibition was held in conjunction with salon Art Projects at the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art in Darwin in August 2021. It sold out and received national media exposure. Yolngu have repurposed found metal since first contact with Makassans. Balanda outsiders first knew them as the Murrniny, a name given to them by neighbouring groups which references their steel spearheads. The Found movement was originated by Gunybi Ganambarr around 2011 when the elders endorsed recycled materials as acceptable render sacred designs. This is a repurposed sign. Bandarr was one of the artists of the Young Guns exhibitions at Annandale with Gunybi in the mid 2000's. Bandarr is a member of the Dhudi Djapu clan and he has etched the designs of two important clan estates in the background of the work. The herringbone is Dhuruputjpi billabong and the clashing cross hatch is Yalata floodplain. The Dhudi Djapu are maternal granddaughters of the Djapu clan and both sing Galumay the Pelican and the net Ganybu. Long ago, two spirit men called Djirrawit and Nyalun made a fish trap (Dhawurr) in the Gurriyalayala River at Waṉḏawuy. The fish trap was made of upright posts forked at the top with a long crosspiece sitting in the forks. The space between was filled with more upright sticks (Dharpa) interwoven with horizontal sticks. Then Djirrawit and Nyåalun cut pieces of bark from the Dhangi tree, pounded them to release the poison, and threw them into the river. The poison in the bark turned the water black and stunned the catfish (Gannal). To collect all the stunned fish they used their fishing spears (Gara) and double-sided triangular fishing nets (Ganybu) made bush string (Raki'). Djirrawit and Nyalun got the idea for the special shape of these nets from watching pelicans (Galumay) catching fish in their big bills. Yolngu people learned from the two spirit men how to catch fish this way, and still do sometimes when there is a big gathering of people needing much food. The central motif to this work represents the Ganybu or hand-held net used to scoop fish out of these waters in the style of a pelican's beak. Galumay is the pelican that inhabits the flood plains. When the waters begin to dry up and the waterholes become smaller, the cat fish called Gannal are hunted by Galumay. Both the Djapu and Dhudi-Djapu sing in ceremony Galumay and Gannal as totemic species and for increase. The songs of Galumay connect between this and a salt water area both visited by Galumay. The sacred Bungul (dance) and Manikay (song) which embodies Galumay are reserved for very special occasions in 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, the women and children fan out like Pelicans and create a "dragnet' which leaves little behind. 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 Djapu escorting him to the place of justice will dance the Pelican relying on the qualities of gentle shepherding 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 resting place. The identity of 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 Djapu and Pelicans continue to share their age-old homeland.