Artiste : Buwathay Munyarryun

Titre de l'œuvre : Limin

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 84 x 26 cm

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

Référence de la peinture : 5613-17

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

Explication de l’œuvre :

This bark Painting by Buwathay Munyarryun (1962), identifies Ŋuykal the ancestral Kingfish is a totemic fish shared by the Maŋgalili and the Wangurri clans of the Yirritja moiety. Buwathay is the eldest son of Mathuḻu, a senior clan leader for the Wangurri.

Ŋuykal travelled in both salt and fresh water country and is associated with androgyny and metamorphism. This piece has been covered with the Wangurri clan design for an area of saltwater covering the country called Wulwala - close to the

peninsula known as Cape Wilberforce. Here the saltwater is flat and calm and 'shimmers' to the horizon, a condition called Gunbiḻk.

Emphasising his knowledge as a senior man amongst the ranks of other traditional lawmen, in disclosing the subject of the painting, Hidden under this water is the rock Dhukururra, its foundation cemented into the sea bed. The totem giant clam Dhalimbu' is also here. In this part of the ocean also lives Limin, the squid as shown here.

The painting proclaims knowledge and ownership of the life source: subterranean rivers fresh water from land which surface under the sea at this place, Wulwala.

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