The Ubarr Ceremony, 2015

natural earth pigments on bark

116 x 31.5 cm

$1,500

Secure payment via Stripe. Prices in AUD.

Provenance: Injalak Arts and Crafts, Gunbalanya, NT, Cat No. 4083-15
Artwork story: The Ubarr is among the most important ceremonies of western Arnhem Land, and its origins are told in the story of Yirrwadbad. In the Dreaming, Yirrwadbad took a young girl from a neighbouring camp as his wife, but she refused him and fled home to her mother, who sheltered her rather than sending her back as the law required. Yirrwadbad followed the two women as they went out hunting, and one day, transforming himself into a snake, he slid ahead of them into a hollow log, where he scratched at the wood to imitate a goanna or bandicoot. When the women reached into either end of the log, he bit each in turn, and both died. Returning to human form, Yirrwadbad understood the trouble that would follow, and sought out the kangaroo Nadulmi, once a human Ancestral Being. Together they resolved that a great ceremony should be held in honour of the two women, and Yirrwadbad appointed Nadulmi its Keeper. Nadulmi would beat the hollow log, the Ubarr drum, with a heavy stick to call the ceremony into being, and novices were told by the initiated men that this sound was the voice of the Rainbow Serpent summoning them to the rites. Through this ceremony, the hollow log at the centre of the story became the sacred Ubarr drum, and the events surrounding Yirrwadbad's crime became the foundation for law concerning marriage and its obligations. The Ubarr was passed down through generations of western Arnhem Land men, and its imagery, the drum, the ceremonial ground and its performers, appears in the rock art of the escarpment as well as in the barks of senior Kunwinjku painters. In taking up this subject, Kelly continues a tradition of depicting the Ubarr that connects his generation to some of the most significant artists and ceremonial men of his region.

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Ezariah Kelly

Region: Unknown / Unspecified

The Ubarr Ceremony, 2015

natural earth pigments on bark

116 x 31.5 cm

$1,500

Secure payment via Stripe. Prices in AUD.

Provenance: Injalak Arts and Crafts, Gunbalanya, NT, Cat No. 4083-15
Artwork story: The Ubarr is among the most important ceremonies of western Arnhem Land, and its origins are told in the story of Yirrwadbad. In the Dreaming, Yirrwadbad took a young girl from a neighbouring camp as his wife, but she refused him and fled home to her mother, who sheltered her rather than sending her back as the law required. Yirrwadbad followed the two women as they went out hunting, and one day, transforming himself into a snake, he slid ahead of them into a hollow log, where he scratched at the wood to imitate a goanna or bandicoot. When the women reached into either end of the log, he bit each in turn, and both died. Returning to human form, Yirrwadbad understood the trouble that would follow, and sought out the kangaroo Nadulmi, once a human Ancestral Being. Together they resolved that a great ceremony should be held in honour of the two women, and Yirrwadbad appointed Nadulmi its Keeper. Nadulmi would beat the hollow log, the Ubarr drum, with a heavy stick to call the ceremony into being, and novices were told by the initiated men that this sound was the voice of the Rainbow Serpent summoning them to the rites. Through this ceremony, the hollow log at the centre of the story became the sacred Ubarr drum, and the events surrounding Yirrwadbad's crime became the foundation for law concerning marriage and its obligations. The Ubarr was passed down through generations of western Arnhem Land men, and its imagery, the drum, the ceremonial ground and its performers, appears in the rock art of the escarpment as well as in the barks of senior Kunwinjku painters. In taking up this subject, Kelly continues a tradition of depicting the Ubarr that connects his generation to some of the most significant artists and ceremonial men of his region.