Malaluba Gumana

Last updated

Malaluba Gumana (born 1953) is an Australian Aboriginal artist from northeast Arnhem Land, who has gained prominence through her work in painting and the production of larrakitj, [1] the memorial poles traditionally used by Yolngu people in a mortuary ceremony. [2]

Contents

Her work is held in collection at the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. [3] She has won awards in categories for bark painting [4] and three-dimensional work at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). [5] Her work is represented in the Kerry Stokes Larrakitj Collection, [3] which was exhibited by the Art Gallery of Western Australia [6] and also gained an exhibition place at the Sydney Biennale. [3]

Background

Gumana was born in 1953 [7] and lived in the Gangan homeland of the Blue Mud Bay region in northeast Arnhem Land. [1] She is an artist with Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre [7] in Yirrkala, an Indigenous community-controlled art centre of northeast Arnhem Land. [8] Her complex and fluid paintings frequently refer to the story of the all-powerful Rainbow Serpent or wititj (olive python) as it travels through her mother's Gålpu clan lands. [9] She mainly represents the Gålpu clan designs of dhatam (water lily), djari (rainbow), djayku (file snake) and wititj (olive python), [7] applying the technique of marwat (cross-hatching) using a finely controlled hair brush. [5] Intellectual property rights of clan designs are held by the clan, and only people with rights to certain designs are able to use them. [10]

Gumana is well-known for her production of larrakitj [1] which the Yolngu people used as bone receptacles in traditional funerary rites. [2] The larrakitj are made from stringy bark trees that have been hollowed out by termites. [6] The trees are selected and harvested after the dry-season fires and are then smoothed and shaped for painting with ochres in a cultural process, with each larrakitj presenting clan-specific designs.

Career

From 2006, Gumana started creating larger and more complex work with the encouragement of her art centre. [3] In 2007, her work was shown for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin. In 2008, her bark and hollow logs sold out at an exhibition with Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, and her dhatam imagery was selected by the Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures for T-shirt and promotional material. By 2009, her larrakitj were part of the Kerry Stokes Larrakitj Collection, which exhibited that year at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, [6] and also won an exhibition place in the 17th Sydney Biennale at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2010. [3] In 2013, she won a NATSIAA award in the category for Bark Painting, [4] followed by another win in 2019 of NATSIAA’s Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award for three-dimensional work by an Indigenous artist. [5]

Gumana’s work is held in permanent collections at the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. [3] Her work is part of Kerry Stokes' Larrakitj Collection, and is also held in private art collections at Woodside Energy Ltd and the Estate of Kerry Packer.

Work

Exhibitions

Collections

Source: [3]

Awards

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.

The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) is Australia's longest running Indigenous art award. Established in 1984 as the National Aboriginal Art Award by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin, the annual award is commonly referred to as the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, the Telstra Award or Telstra Prize. It is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists working in all media.

Wandjuk Djuwakan Marika OBE, was an Aboriginal Australian painter, actor, composer and Indigenous land rights activist. He was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, and the son of Mawalan 1 Marika.

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.

Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika, known after her death as Dr B Marika, was an artist, printmaker and environmental activist from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, who was dedicated to the development, recognition and preservation of Indigenous Australian art and culture. She uses her artwork to translate her ancestral stories through figures and motifs. She was one of the few Indigenous artists to specialize almost entirely in print making. She was the first Aboriginal person to serve on the National Gallery of Australia's board.

<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.

Galuma Maymuru is an Australian painter, printmaker and sculptor from Yirrkala in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

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.

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.

Ishmael Marika is a Yolngu musician, filmmaker, director and producer. His installations have been exhibited in many of Australia's most important museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. He is currently the Creative Director for the pre-eminent Indigenous media unit in Australia, the Mulka Project, based at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre at Yirrkala in Northeast Arnhem Land. The Mulka Project seeks to preserve and disseminate the sacred languages and cultural practices of the Yolngu people by collecting and archiving photographs, audio and video.

Lucy Malirrimurruwuy Armstrong Wanapuyngu is an Aboriginal Australian master fibre artist. She is an elder of the Gapuwiyak community, and is heavily involved in the transmission of knowledge dealing with fibre works. She has worked with anthropologist Louise Hamby, since 1995, and many of her works have been spotlighted at different art festivals, collections, galleries, and museums.

<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.

<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.

Dhambit Mununggurr 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.

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.

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.

Naminapu "Nami" Maymuru-White is a senior Yolŋu artist of North East Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is known for representing her the songlines of her clan, the Maŋgalili group, especially the stars and their reflections in the local rivers. She has been invited to exhibit at the Venice Biennale in July 2024.

<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 "Rite of Spring / Rrarrandharr: Malaluba Gumana with Djirrirra Wunungmurra / Saskia Havekes — 10 September to 8 October 2011". The Cross Art Projects. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Search results for "larrakitj"". Buku-Larrngay Mulka Centre. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Stubbs, Will. Malaluba Gumana [and] Djirrarra Wunungmurra. Buku-Larrngay Mulka Arts. Annandale, New South Wales. ISBN   978-0-9924640-3-5. OCLC   931106695.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Malaluba Gumana". Nomad Art. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "2019 Winners - Telstra NATSIAA". MAGNT. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Larrakitj Kerry Stokes Collection". The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 "Artists". Buku-Larrngay Mulka Centre. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka". Buku-Larrngay Mulka Centre. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "MALALUBA GUMANA Prism - 29 August - 6 October 2012". Annandale Galleries. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  10. ↑ "Bark Paintings and Larrakitj from Yirrkala". Nomad Art. 7 April 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
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.