Baru in Caledon Bay, c.1970

81.5 x 36 cm

Est. $4,000 – $6,000

Hammer $2,600

Provenance: Source Unknown, Cat No. LSICM5 Fireworks Gallery, Qld Private Collection, Vic
Artwork story: Attributed to Yama Mununggurritj or his brother Watjung, this bark painting recounts the mythic actions of Baru, the ancestral crocodile, in Caledon Bay - central to Gumatj clan identity. Elemental in force, the story tells of Baru emerging from the water bearing fire, bringing both illumination and danger, and marking the land with ancestral authority. The bark is adorned with bold rarrk cross-hatching in vivid reds and blacks, evoking both the crocodile's scales and the flames it carries. The image works across registers - as a literal being, a clan totem, and a metaphor for law and transmission. In Yolngu culture, collective authorship is common. For collectors, such pieces can offer unique insights into collaborative knowledge and shared iconographies rarely visible in Western traditions of authorship.

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Sale 1 · Lot 16

Yama Mununggurritj and/or his brother Watjung

81.5 x 36 cm

Est. $4,000 – $6,000

Hammer $2,600

Provenance: Source Unknown, Cat No. LSICM5 Fireworks Gallery, Qld Private Collection, Vic
Artwork story: Attributed to Yama Mununggurritj or his brother Watjung, this bark painting recounts the mythic actions of Baru, the ancestral crocodile, in Caledon Bay - central to Gumatj clan identity. Elemental in force, the story tells of Baru emerging from the water bearing fire, bringing both illumination and danger, and marking the land with ancestral authority. The bark is adorned with bold rarrk cross-hatching in vivid reds and blacks, evoking both the crocodile's scales and the flames it carries. The image works across registers - as a literal being, a clan totem, and a metaphor for law and transmission. In Yolngu culture, collective authorship is common. For collectors, such pieces can offer unique insights into collaborative knowledge and shared iconographies rarely visible in Western traditions of authorship.