Baraltja Monuk, 2008

natural earth pigments on bark

175 x 65 cm

Est. $6,000 – $8,000

Hammer $4,400

Provenance: Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka, Yirrkala, NT, Cat No. 3377L Private Collection, NSW, acquired from the above Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka
Artwork story: Baraltja is where the freshwater of the Gängan River meets the tidal surge of Blue Mud Bay, and it is where Mundukul, the Lightning Snake, makes its residence. Gawirrin Gumana has said of this country simply: "I am Gängan, I am the freshwater, I am of the mud." The long elliptical shapes that fill the bark describe the saltwater as it is stilled and spread across the floodplains; from these same plains, at the onset of the wet season, Mundukul stands on its tail to spit lightning skyward, heralding the rains and communiCating with related serpents belonging to Yirritja clans across the wider country. Two barramundi, Baliny, a Yirritja creator ancestor, appear at the top and base of the composition, companions to Mundukul in this place where waters meet and the cycle of life continues. The surface is covered entirely in Gumana's miny'tji, the sacred clan designs of the Dhalwaŋu, their fine crosshatching a mark of both ceremonial knowledge and a lifetime's mastery. Gumana was the eldest son of the great Birrikitji (1898–1982), and by 2008 the most senior active artist of the entire Yirritja moiety of north-east Arnhem Land. He won the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award First Prize in 2002, was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003, and received the Red Ochre Award in 2009. In the same year this bark was painted, the High Court ruled in the Blue Mud Bay case, recognising Indigenous sea rights for the first time — a decade-long struggle to which Gumana had been central.

Catalogues189 of 257

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Sale 3 · Lot 41

Gawirrin Gumana

1935 – 2016

Region: Arnhem Land
Community: Gäṉgaṉ
Language group: Yolŋu (Yolngu) – Dhaḻwaŋu (Dhalwangu) clan

Baraltja Monuk, 2008

natural earth pigments on bark

175 x 65 cm

Est. $6,000 – $8,000

Hammer $4,400

Provenance: Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka, Yirrkala, NT, Cat No. 3377L Private Collection, NSW, acquired from the above Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka
Artwork story: Baraltja is where the freshwater of the Gängan River meets the tidal surge of Blue Mud Bay, and it is where Mundukul, the Lightning Snake, makes its residence. Gawirrin Gumana has said of this country simply: "I am Gängan, I am the freshwater, I am of the mud." The long elliptical shapes that fill the bark describe the saltwater as it is stilled and spread across the floodplains; from these same plains, at the onset of the wet season, Mundukul stands on its tail to spit lightning skyward, heralding the rains and communiCating with related serpents belonging to Yirritja clans across the wider country. Two barramundi, Baliny, a Yirritja creator ancestor, appear at the top and base of the composition, companions to Mundukul in this place where waters meet and the cycle of life continues. The surface is covered entirely in Gumana's miny'tji, the sacred clan designs of the Dhalwaŋu, their fine crosshatching a mark of both ceremonial knowledge and a lifetime's mastery. Gumana was the eldest son of the great Birrikitji (1898–1982), and by 2008 the most senior active artist of the entire Yirritja moiety of north-east Arnhem Land. He won the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award First Prize in 2002, was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003, and received the Red Ochre Award in 2009. In the same year this bark was painted, the High Court ruled in the Blue Mud Bay case, recognising Indigenous sea rights for the first time — a decade-long struggle to which Gumana had been central.