Marrnyula Mununggurr | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 July 1964 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Other names | Watjumi, Mititjpurr, Munuŋgurr |
| Known for | Bark painting, printmaking |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Rerrkirrwanga Mununggurr (sister) |
| Family | Djapu’ clan |
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.
Born in North East Arnhem Land, Marrnyula Mununggurr is the daughter of renowned artists Djutadjuta Mununggurr and Nonggirrnga Marawili. Wäṉḏawuy is her official homeland in which she first became an artist, trailblazing in their paths. She is apart of the Dhuwa moiety. [1] Wäṉḏawuy is in an outstation belonging to the Djapu'. It is freshwater, inland, and Mäṉa (the shark) is their totem. [2] [1] Although she has no children of her own, Mununggurr was responsible for raising her deceased brother's three children.
Marrnyula Munungurr's paternal grandfather was the Djapu clan leader and artist Wonggu Mununggurr (c. 1880-1959) and her maternal grandfather was the Madarrpa leader and artist Mundukul Marawili. [3]
Mununggurr enrolling at Batchelor as she wanted to be a teacher. She did so and taught at Wandawuy, but she didn't want to travel too much so she seek for another job. [4] Mununggurr currently[ when? ] works at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre at Yirrkala in Arnhem Land, a position she has occupied since Steve Fox was the art coordinator in the 1980s. From 1995-2011 she was the senior printmaker, trainer and manager of the Yirrkala Print Space, having trained under master printmaker Basil Hall.
Before that, she was known to assist both of her parents in producing their artworks. She learned how to prepare bark and paint her clan designs from her father. [5] While developing her skills as a bark painter, she also taught school children about the Djapu' clan designs. [1] Marrnyula and her mother often assisted her father with his bark paintings, including Djapu’–Gälpu Ties, a bark painting currently on display in the Madayin Exhibit along the family's other works. It is here that she developed her own style in narrative paintings after working on the venerated Djapu paintings, produced by her father, who won Best Bark Painting prize National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 1997.
In a profession once predominantly reserved for men, Mununggurr is unique in her field in respect to both her artwork and the fact that she is one of the few female bark painters. She is further known to uphold the traditional paintings and designs of her people, the best exemplification of such being her work Djapu 2013, where she incorporates motifs and techniques observed within the paintings produced by her father (Djutjadjutja Mununggurr) and grandfather (Wonggu Mununggurr). From an early age, it was her father who encouraged her depiction of Djapu' designs, putting a hairbrush (marwaṯ), white clay (gapaṉ), and bark in her hands to begin what would eventually become a career in bark painting. [6]
Mununggurr has partnered with her mother Nonggirrnga Mararwili, to produce the paintings of the Djapu clan design, which was exhibited in 2007 at the Annandale Gallery. [7]
She has also been part of a major contemporary art survey, hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney in 2009, under the title of Making it New: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art. Of the works included in this survey, her bark painting titled Love me Safely had previously been part of a national exhibit in Canberra from 1994 to 1995, called Don’t Leave Me This Way: Art in the Age of AIDS. Since this 1994-1995 exhibit, Munungurr has remained a proponent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders battling disease and through her work has helped raise awareness regarding these issues. [8]
One of the five artists from Arnhem Land chosen, Mununggurr, took part in the Djalkiri: We are Standing on their names: Blue Mud Bay project (2009-2010). This project was designed to celebrate the Yolngu people of the Yilpara and Blue Mud Bay region, through the commemoration of ancestors by song, dance, paintings and other forms of artistic expression. Here Marrnyula was particular in which artwork she presented, painting her mother’s design of the sailing cloth, a motif intrinsically connected to that of Yilpara and the sea rights ceremony of Blue Mud Bay. [9]
Her exhibition of 252 small bark paintings, titled Ganybu in 2015 at the Gertrude Street Contemporary in Melbourne provided the artist with another opportunity to showcase her Djapu clan design. [10] The grids painted on these small bark paintings reference the fishtrap that caught Mäṉa and the land she comes from. The billabongs, ridges, and high banks of Waṉḏawuy, are painted in natural ochre. [11] This work was subsequently acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria, and included in the exhibition Who's Afraid of Colour?. [12] In 2019, Marrnyula completed another installation, made up of 297 small bark paintings, as a commission for the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. The work was exhibited at the 2019 Tarnanthi festival at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
She is also a firm advocate against climate change, helping promote awareness through her artwork like in her shared exhibition Zero Metres Above Sea Level, on display in Sydney since 2016. Through her work, environmentalists and botanists have studied the effects of modern day climate change and on the communities predicted to be most affected by it. [13]
She remains a senior and well-respected printmaker at Yirrkala Printspace. [14]
Marrnyula has been working with Buku-Larrngay Mulka, a leading studio in printmaking, since the 1980s. She has had pieces installed in Cross Art Projects, Gertrude Contemporary, and the NGV. [15]
Her print works are often identified by her meticulous cross-hatching pattern design on bark mediums, which embody the freshwaters and estuaries of her native land. Such patterns embody the network of waterways, ridges and hills of the landscape. It is also of note that this design is representative of the fish traps typically woven by women used to scoop up fish.
As Marrnyula grew older and began to struggle with mobility issues, she began to explore creating installations of many small bark paintings pieced together. She calls them puzzle work paintings; she created her first one at the Buku art center out of five or six little scraps of bark left by other painters. [16] Since the Ganybu exhibition in 2015, Marrnyula has been associated with innovative installations made up of multiple small barks. Each of these small barks makes up her clan's design, the fish trap that caught Mäna (the ancestral shark) at Wändawuy. Moreover, the grid of the fishtrap, Ganybu, is repeated in the negative space that occurs between the small barks hanging on the gallery wall. Appearing to be camouflaged, the grid is depicted as it is seen by freshwater fish. [17] Marrnyula noted in an interview that smaller bark paintings, contrary to traditionally vast and lone bark painting pieces, are her own idea. She is pursuing her individual style representing the same miny'tji in Djapu' paintings due to the new influx of women in this traditionally man-held space. [18] In 2019, her work of over 200 barks was installed at the Tarnanthi Festival in Adelaide at the Art Gallery of South Australia. [19]
In addition to her iconic puzzle work style, she also paints larrakitj (hollow logs). She paints the designs she inherited from her grandfather, Wonggu Mununggurr. [20] While staying true to her clan designs, she also manages to make her works her own, distinct from that of her sisters' and other female artists.
Maintaining a deep veneration of the spirits and lore, these themes have been incorporated into her artwork, helping reveal the importance of the landscape to these communities. [13] Marrnyula often creates art inspired by her clan totem. The Djapu’ clan's totem is the Mäṉa, ancestral sharks. These sharks' travels connect the people of different clans. [21] These designs are apparent in her puzzle work style bark paintings as well as in her hollow log paintings. From 2014 to 2015 she worked on a larrakitj installation, also titled Ganybu. In this work, the vertical and horizontal lines represent the fish trap in the shark songline. The diagonal lines represent the water, the source of the Djapu’ soul. Eucalyptus shavings were scattered on the floor of National Gallery of Victoria, where this work was displayed, to transport the audience to Wäṉḏawuy. [22]
One of Marrnyula's infamous puzzle work paintings is apart of Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. This exhibit was organized by Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in partnership with the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre. This exhibition was created to invite new audiences a look into the sacred and secret of Yirrkala. Organized by clan and songlines, this exhibit includes many songlines, including Mäṉa songline. [23]
The Mäṉa is a songline that spans across many Dhuwa songlines. Marrnyula's piece, Djapu’ Clan Design, depicts the end of Mäṉa's journey at Wäṉḏawuy, Marrnyula's homeland. Here, the shark ancestor sees hunters from the Gupa-Djapu’ clan poisoning fish. The hunters attempted to trap Mäṉa with a woven fish trap but he swung his head and broke free. The force of this created a bend in the river.
Djapu’ Clan Design is a large piece made up of 299 smaller bark paintings. These smaller bark paintings make up a large grid, and each smaller painting depicts a grid design, calling back to the fish trap in the in the story. [24] In this piece, the white clay designs represent freshwater and the black designs in the center represent muddy water created by the shark thrashing. The shark can be seen escaping near the top left of the puzzle work painting. [16] The river from the songlines is a river at Waṉḏawuy that is painted on young boys for their initiation ceremonies and elderly men who are ready to retire. [21] The grid designs in this artwork are her ceremonial designs. She uses cross-hatching to create a shimmering effect, mimicking the water.
'Living by the Sea' is a saltwater sea painting. The story revolves around two hunters (djambatj) getting ready to capture turtle eggs while others are fishing with spears (gara) and gathering sea crabs and bait to catch guya. The painting is all about the sea and the two moieties-- Yirritja and Dhuwa. [25]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mithinarri Gurruwiwi (c.1929–1976) was an Aboriginal Australian painter of the Gälpu clan of the Yolngu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. His first name is sometimes spelt Midinari, Mitinari, or Mithinari.
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.
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.
Mawalan Marika (c.1908–1967), often referred to as Mawalan 1 Marika to distinguish from Mawalan 2 Marika, was an Aboriginal Australian artist and the leader of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is known for his bark paintings, carvings and political activism.
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.
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 effected 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.
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.
Gunybi Ganambarr is an Aboriginal artist from Yirrkala, in the North-eastern Arnhem Land of the Northern Territory. He currently resides in Gängän where he continues to create his art. Ganambarr is considered the founder of the "Found" movement in northeast Arnhem Land, in which artists use recycled materials, onto which are etched sacred designs more commonly painted on eucalyptus bark.
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.
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.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)The artist's print studio can be found at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, the Indigenous art centre located at Yirrkala.
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