Gumatj Larrakitj, c.2006

natural earth pigments on hollow log

292 x 20 cm

Est. $2,500 – $3,500

Hammer $2,000

Provenance: Buku Larrngay Mulka, Yirrkala, NT, Cat No. 2552Q Private Collection, NSW Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Buku Larrngay Mulka
Artwork story: The Gumatj diamond design represents fire: the red of the flames, the white of smoke and ash, the black of charcoal, the yellow of dust. It belongs to the Gumatj land around Biranybirany and the ancestral events that occurred there, events involving the Ancestral Crocodile Bäru and his associations with the Ancestral Fire. This miny'tji (sacred clan design) is the source and record of the sacred identity of Yolngu law and land. For decades, when Yolngu artists painted for the outside world, this design was covered by figurative imagery, a totemic crocodile or shark, to protect uninitiated viewers from its unmediated power. This larrakitj is part of a deliberate movement away from that practice by the Gumatj and Djapu clans in the years following the first Garma Larrakitj installation in 2001, the miny'tji now given without a covering layer. Manalay Yunupinu was born at Biranybirany on 27 May 1962 and became the senior Gumatj man at that homeland. He began assuming ceremonial leadership responsibilities in the mid-1990s and his art production intensified in the early years of the new millennium. He participated in the 2003 Garma Larrakitj Installation at Gulkula and exhibited in Circle, Line, Column at Annandale Galleries, Sydney, in July 2004.

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Sale 3 · Lot 88

Manalay Yunupinu

natural earth pigments on hollow log

292 x 20 cm

Est. $2,500 – $3,500

Hammer $2,000

Provenance: Buku Larrngay Mulka, Yirrkala, NT, Cat No. 2552Q Private Collection, NSW Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Buku Larrngay Mulka
Artwork story: The Gumatj diamond design represents fire: the red of the flames, the white of smoke and ash, the black of charcoal, the yellow of dust. It belongs to the Gumatj land around Biranybirany and the ancestral events that occurred there, events involving the Ancestral Crocodile Bäru and his associations with the Ancestral Fire. This miny'tji (sacred clan design) is the source and record of the sacred identity of Yolngu law and land. For decades, when Yolngu artists painted for the outside world, this design was covered by figurative imagery, a totemic crocodile or shark, to protect uninitiated viewers from its unmediated power. This larrakitj is part of a deliberate movement away from that practice by the Gumatj and Djapu clans in the years following the first Garma Larrakitj installation in 2001, the miny'tji now given without a covering layer. Manalay Yunupinu was born at Biranybirany on 27 May 1962 and became the senior Gumatj man at that homeland. He began assuming ceremonial leadership responsibilities in the mid-1990s and his art production intensified in the early years of the new millennium. He participated in the 2003 Garma Larrakitj Installation at Gulkula and exhibited in Circle, Line, Column at Annandale Galleries, Sydney, in July 2004.