Dhambit Mununggurr

Last updated

Dhambit Mununggurr
Born1968
Nationality Yolngu
Known for Bark painting, larrakitj
SpouseTony Gintz

Dhambit Mununggurr (born 1968) is a Yolngu artist of the Gupa-Djapu clan known for her unique ultramarine blue bark paintings inspired by natural landscapes and Yolngu stories and legends. In 2005, Mungunggurr was hit by a truck, leaving her wheelchair bound and stopping her from painting for five years. The incident affected her painting by limiting her use of her right hand. [1]

Contents

Early life

Dhambit Mununggurr was born in 1968 to Mutitjpuy Munungurr (1932-1993) and Gulumbu Yunupingu (1945–2012), [2] Her father was the first artist to win the award with a bark painting (Djang'kawu) in 1990, and her mother won the award in 2004 for her work Garak, the Universe. [3] Her father was one of the members of the Dhuwa moiety who contributed to the Yirrkala Church Panels (which would lead to the creation of the Yirrkala bark petitions of 1963), and served as a great inspiration for Mununggurr. [2] Her mother, Gulumbu Yunupingu, also inspired her; in an interview posted to YouTube in August 2023 for the exhibition Madayin, Munungurr said that she first began painting in the 1980s "because I've seen my parents painting when I was growing up." [4] Both of Mununggurr's parents were skilled artists, having both won first place in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards and they were a major influence on her artistic style. [1]

Career

Mununggurr's first paintings were influenced by her mother's clan, featuring imagery of fire, associated with the Gumatj clan to which her mother belonged. [4]

She was credited as an artist in the 2000 film Yolngu Boy . [5]

In 2005, Mununggurr was hit by a car and sustained severe head injuries, [5] leaving her needing a wheelchair and unable to use her right hand to paint. [6] Her recovery consisted of a Western treatment and traditional healing practices, and she entered an intensive rehabilitation program in 2011 at Epworth Rehabilitation in Melbourne, Victoria. [6] [2]

When returning to painting in 2010, she trained herself to paint with her non-dominant left hand, as her condition slowly improved. [2] Her favoring of acrylics was an effect of the accident, with NATSIAA curators agreeing she could no longer grind traditional ochres used for bark painting with her limited dexterity in her right hand. [6] [5] Beginning in acrylic colours of red, orange, and yellow, reminiscent of natural ochre tones, Mununggurr came to her now famous bright blue acrylic in 2019. [7]

In 2015, Alcaston Gallery opened "GAYBADA – My Father Was an Artist," which was a collection of bark paintings and larrakitj inspired by Mununggurr's father's work, which was an inspiration for much of Munungurr's own art. [1]

In 2018, Mununggurr, while working at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, created a large bark painting for The Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). [8]

In addition to bark paintings, Mununggurr is also known for her Larrakitj(hollow poles). Like her bark paintings, these Larrakitj feature her signature acrylic blue coloring. [9]

Mununggurr is known to show a great deal of individualism in her artistic style. She deviates from tradition materials and style, which sets her apart from other indigenous Australian artists. [1]

Other activities

In 2004, Munungurr became the first Yolngu woman to graduate as a tour guide in Yirrkala. [2]

Mununggurr's late brother and her uncle, Mandawuy Yunupingu, were founders of the Yolngu music group, Yothu Yindi. Her brother is a world renowned player of the didgeridoo. [1]

Collections

Her work was acquired by Artbank in 2018 in a collection which details Mununggurr's life and her familial ties. [10] At the top, her maternal grandfather Mungurrawuy Yunupingu is pictured, and further down her uncles Galarrwuy and Mandawuy are shown. [10] Her mother, Gulumbu Yunupingu, is represented through the stars which show what she had painted on the ceiling of the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, France. Lastly, Dhambit herself is represented as a monolithic rock on Elcho Island. [10]

Other collections containing her work include:

Significant exhibitions

Mununggurr's first solo exhibition, Mirdawarr Dhulan, at the Alcaston Gallery in Melbourne (2011), was named after her experience driving through remnants of burnt-out forest around King Lake with her partner Tony, where she noticed green shoots sprouting from burned trees. [6] [2] The title refers to the "land after fire" and the "regrowth after fire." [2]

In 2020, Mununggurr was represented at the National Gallery of Victoria Triennial with an installation of fifteen bark paintings and nine painted larrakitj (hollow log coffins), titled Can We All Have a Happy Life. [8] [13] Many of her paintings at the exhibition depict stories that had been passed down to her by her parents and Yolngu elders; one of her paintings shows the story of the Makassans—told to Mununggurr by her mother—who traded tobacco with the Yolngu for centuries and fished off the coast of Arnhem Land for sea cucumber, until their fishing was banned by the Australian government in 1907, over fifty years before Mununggurr was born. [14]

Following her participation at the NGV's 2020 Triennial, Mununggurr was invited back to be a part of the National Gallery of Victoria's 2021 exhibition of women artists from Yirrkala, titled Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala. There, Mununggurr exhibited alongside: Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu, Gulumbu Yunupingu (her mother), Barrupu Yunupingu, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Eunice Djerrkngu Yunupingu, Nonggirrnga Marawili, Mulkun Wirrpanda, Naminapu Maymuru-White, Malaluba Gumana, and Dhuwarrwarr Marika. Her works included in the exhibition showcased her various shades of acrylic blues, which she described with the words "water blue, midnight blue, cobalt blue, ultramarine, Australian blue, and Australian sky blue." [7] The newest work exhibited at Bark Ladies by Mununggurr was a portrait of former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, titled Order, inspired by Gillard's "Misogyny Speech" famously delivered in Australian Parliament in 2012. [7] Julia Gillard herself visited the exhibition to view her portrait and remarked, "There's nothing like seeing it [Mununggurr's Order] in person, to experience the power of it. The speech has had this incredible afterlife. It's about expressing to activists, predominantly women, emotion, energy, galvanizing them for the continued fight for gender equality, so I think that this speaks very powerfully to that urge that we want to live in a more equal world." [15]

Other exhibitions of her work include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yirrkala</span> Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land.

Yanggarriny Wunungmurra (1932–2003) was an artist, yidaki player and leader of the Dhalwangu clan of the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulumbu Yunupingu</span> Aboriginal artist

Gulumbu Yunupingu, after her death known as Djotarra or Ms Yunupingu, was an Australian Aboriginal artist and women's leader from the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Narritjin Maymuru was a Yolngu people artist and activist noted for Bark painting. He began painting in the 1940s after time as a cook. After decades of work in 1979 he, and his son, became visiting artists at the Australian National University. His daughter Galuma Maymuru has become recognised as a significant Australian artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marrnyula Mununggurr</span> Indigenous Australian painter

Marrnyula Mununggurr (1964) is an Aboriginal Australian painter of the Djapu clan of the Yolngu people, known for her use of natural ochres on bark and hollow logs, wood carvings, linoleum and screen print productions.

Nyapanyapa Yunupingu was an Australian Yolngu painter and printmaker who lived and worked in the community at Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory. Yunupingu created works of art that drastically diverge from the customs of the Yolngu people and made waves within the art world as a result. Due to this departure from tradition within her oeuvre, Yunupingu's work had varying receptions from within her community and the broader art world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonggirrnga Marawili</span> Australian painter and printmaker

Nonggirrnga Marawili was an Australian Yolngu painter and printmaker. She was the daughter of the acclaimed artist and pre-contact warrior Mundukul. Marawili was born on the beach at Darrpirra, near Djarrakpi, as a member of the Madarrpa clan of the Yirritja moiety. She grew up in both Yilpara and Yirrkala in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, but lived wakir', meaning her family would move frequently, camping at Madarrpa clan-related sites between Blue Mud Bay and Groote Eylandt. Marawili died at Yirrkala in October 2023.

Wonggu Mununggurr (c.1880–1959) was an Aboriginal Australian artist and leader of the Djapu clan of the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Djambawa Marawili is an Aboriginal Australian artist known for bark painting, wood sculpture, and printmaking. He is also a musician, and released an album in 2008.

Dhuwarrwarr Marika, also known as Banuminy, a female contemporary Aboriginal artist. She is a Yolngu artist and community leader from East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. She belongs to the Dhuwa moiety of the Rirratjingu clan in the homeland of Yalangbara, daughter of Mawalan Marika. Marika is an active bark painter, carver, mat maker, and printmaker.

Mungurrawuy Yunupingu (c.1905–1979) was a prominent Aboriginal Australian artist and leader of the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu people of northeastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He was known for his bark paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre</span> Indigenous Australian art centre at Yirrkala, Northern Territory

The Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, formerly Buku-Larrŋgay Arts and also known as the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre and Museum, is an art centre in Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is often referred to as Buku for short. It is one of many Indigenous art centres across Australia, which support their communities and make them self-reliant – an Australian invention. Many notable artists have worked or continue to work at the centre.

Rerrkirrwanga Mununggurr is an Australian artist renowned for her finely detailed paintings on bark. In some publications Rerrkirrwanga is referred to as Rerrki, which appears to be a nickname from her older sister Marrnyula Mununggurr. She is the youngest daughter of the artist Djutjadjutja Munungurr. Her husband, Yalpi Yunupinu, helped train Rerrkirrwanga in the traditions that he painted in addition to what she learned from her father. In the 1990s, Rerrkirrwanga finished many of his works even though they are attributed to her father. She now has authority to paint her own stories and her large-scale works on bark are in Australian and international collections.

Malaluba Gumana is an Australian Aboriginal artist from northeast Arnhem Land, who has gained prominence through her work in painting and the production of larrakitj, the memorial poles traditionally used by Yolngu people in a mortuary ceremony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wukun Wanambi</span> Yirrkala Aboriginal artist (1962–2022)

Wukun Wanambi was an Australian Yolngu painter, filmmaker and curator of the Marrakulu clan of northeastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.

Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu was a senior Yolngu artist and matriarch, who lived in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia. She worked at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, where her work is still held, and is known for her graphic art style, bark paintings and printmaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorial pole</span> Hollow log coffin, now created as artworks, from northern Australia

A memorial pole, also known as hollow log coffin, burial pole, lorrkkon, ḻarrakitj, or ḏupun, is a hollow tree trunk decorated with elaborate designs, made by the Yolngu and Bininj peoples of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Originally used to hold the bones of deceased people or for burial ceremonies, they are now made as works of art. The permanent exhibit at the National Gallery of Australia, Aboriginal Memorial, consists of 200 hollow log coffins, created by 43 artists.

Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda was an Aboriginal Australian community leader and artist from Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Coming from a family of artists, her work focuses on botany surrounding her homelands.

Gawirrin Gumana (1935–2016) was an important cultural leader of the Yolngu people and an Aboriginal Australian bark painter known for his use of rarrk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baluka Maymuru</span> Australian artist

Baluka Maymuru is an Aboriginal Australian artist from Yirrkala, Australia. He is the son of artist Näyin' Maymuru. Baluka is the head of the Manggalili clan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dhambit Mununggurr". Artist Profile. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Dhambit Mununggurr". Alcaston Gallery (in Polish). Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  3. ↑ "Dhambit Munuggurr | Artist Profile, Exhibitions & Artworks". ocula.com. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  4. 1 2 Dhambit Munuŋgurr: Maḏayin Artist Profile . Retrieved 3 May 2024– via www.youtube.com.
  5. 1 2 3 "Dhambit Mununggurr". Salon Art Projects. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Dhambit Mununggurr". Artist Profile. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 Russell-Cook, Myles (2021). Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria.
  8. 1 2 "Dhambit Mununggurr Can we all have a happy life | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  9. ↑ "Dhambit Mununggurr in Conversation | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 "Artbank Staff Picks: Dhambit Mununggurr My Story II, 2018". Artbank. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "Bänhdharra | Ocean". Kluge-Ruhe: Madayin. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  12. ↑ "Artists | NGV". National Gallery of Victoria . Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  13. ↑ "NGV Triennial: a bold and urgent artistic intervention, studded with beauty and calm". the Guardian. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  14. ↑ TRIENNIAL CONVERSATIONS | DHAMBIT MUNUNGGURR IN CONVERSATION WITH MYLES RUSSELL-COOK . Retrieved 4 May 2024– via www.youtube.com.
  15. ↑ JULIA GILLARD IN CONVERSATION WITH DHAMBIT MUNUŊGURR . Retrieved 5 May 2024– via www.youtube.com.
  16. 1 2 ""Dhambit Mununggurr - Gaybada - My Father was an Artist"". Alcaston Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  17. 1 2 Pedler, Chris (25 June 2016). "Contemporary works arrive at Gallery 369". Bendigo Advertiser. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  18. ↑ "Provenance Does Matter: Living with Contemporary Art at Gallery 369 Bendigo". Alcaston Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2021.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.