Artiste : Liyawaday Wirrpanda (1972)

Titre de l'œuvre : Wayawu/Dhuruputjpi/Yalata

Earth pigments on Stringybark hollow pole

Format : 265 cm x 10 cm

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

Référence de la peinture : 664-19

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

Explication de l’œuvre :

There are two clan groups represented on this bark- the  Maŋgalili clan and the Dhud-Djapu clan.
Hidden within these pa􀀄erns are the two great ancestral beings, Ŋukal and Mäṉa.

The miny’tji (sacred clan designs) with parallel banding describes the Maŋgalili freshwater and talks of Ŋuykal the Kingfish, rotting wood raŋga (sacred object) under the water and the sacred yoku (corms of the water lily) representing the yothu (children) of the Maŋgalili fed on by the Bilthu (Rifle fish). The Ŋuykal: Turrum, carangoides emburyi , Kingfish, enters into freshwater to breed. A strong swimming fish seen seasonally cruising along shore lines are speared by Yolŋu. It is totem for the Maŋgalili clan. It is the journey of this fish (up freshwater rivers to breed) that created important ties with relative clans. Ŋuykal’s travelling included a path from Dhonydji to the Wayawu River, passed through Dhälinbuy, a site where the Wangurri clanspeople have settled. At Wayawuwuy, Ŋuykal changed into the hollow log Milkamirri. The sacred design represents the Yoku or lily corm eaten by Ŋoykal whilst at the Wayawu River.

He swims up stream towards the sacred rock Dhukurru from where ancestors once stood to spear the big fish. Ŋuykal people dance, with spear throwers the tail and sacred dilly bag in mouth. The concept of lily bulbs in dillybags has an echo in Maŋgalili children in the womb. Thus the Wayawu is the freshwater source of Maŋgalili souls and an analogy for the Milky Way which is also seen as the reservoir of Maŋgalili souls from which children spring to select their parents. This painting depicts in sacred abstraction the corms still a􀀄ached to the plant, being washed from the lily beds by the flooding Wayawu and represents the Maŋgalili essence (of Ŋuykal) in this water. The Wayawu river also runs into the Dhudi Djapu clan country at Dhuruputjpi.

The herringbone pattern depicts this country around Dhuruputjpi. It has the freshwaters of the Wayawu River running through it…

Her artworks are in the following prestigious collections :

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth WA
Australian National Maritime Museum
Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC
National Museum of Australia, Canberra ACT
RMIT University Art Collection
Woodside Energy Ltd. Art Collection

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