Artiste : Burŋanydji #2 Gaykamaŋu (1977)

Titre de l'œuvre : Wuyal

Pigments naturels sur écorce - sculpture

Format : 120x13 cm

Provenance et certificat original : centre d'art aborigène de Yirrkala

Référence de la peinture : 5421-23

© Photo & text : Aboriginal signature with the courtesy of the artist, & Buku-Larrngay Mulka.

Explication de l’œuvre :

This work is about Wuyal, the ancestral sugarbag man, an important ancestor of the Marrakulu clan of northeast Arnhem Land. This painting on this carving symbolizes his journey during which he named important sites and certain animals. The painting refers also to the continuation of the Marrakulu culture in dance, song and ceremony, which are performed by current generations who have inherited this knowledge and culture from ancestral figures such as Wuyal. This story refers also to important Dhuwa moiety ancestors called the Wawilak sisters.

Wuyal was the first man to look for any homeland for the Marrakulu people. He began a journey from Gurka’wuy travelling via Yuduyudu to Cape Shield, up to Trial Bay and along the course of the Goyder River until he came to Mt. Saunders.  Travelling along with Wuyal, was Ganyt'jalala. These men are symbolic of the Märi-Guthara (grandparent-grandchild) relationship which describes the relationship between Datiiwuy and Marrakulu clans.  Significant to this relationship is the fact that Datiwuy men give their daughters daughters away to Marrakulu men for marriage.  Thus the two clans share an important relationship which involves reciprocal obligations.

Wuyal carried with him tools for hunting animals and for collecting wild honey or sugarbag. The dilly bag, Bandak, worn around his neck, was used to carry the sugarbag called guku. Wuyal used a stone axe, djalpaṯ, to cut down trees in his search for sugarbag. He also carried a stone headed spear for hunting rock wallabies - Dhulaku (kangaroo adult male Arnhem Land Euro, Macropus robustus woodwardi). This is the creature depicted in this sculpture. The stone head of the spear, guyarra, is made from stone found at a place called Nilipitji. Nilipitji is the origin point of this songline and it is a quarry inland from Numbulwar. The sha􀀅 of the spear is called gundit. Also carried was galpu, a spearthrower…

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