Artiste : Napuwarri Marawili

Titre de l'œuvre : Baraltja Dugong Yathikpa

Pigments naturels sur écorce

Format : 68 x 48 cm

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

Référence de la peinture : 34942P

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

Explication de l’œuvre :

This bark painting by Napuwarri Marawili (1967) depicts Baraltja, the residence of Burrut’tji (also known as Mundukul) the lightning serpent. It is an area of flood plains that drain into northern Blue Mud Bay. It is on country belonging to the Madarrpa and denotes an area of special qualities pertaining to fertility and the mixing of waters. From Madarrpa (and Dhalwaŋu clan) land freshwater spreads onto the Baraltja flood plains with the onset of the Wet. A tidal creek into the Bay flows with the freshwater flushing the brackish mix into the sea over an ever shifting sandbar (the snake manifest).

So as a harpoon travels or does lightning the estates are connected spiritually in a multi directional way - both to and from, a cyclic phenomenon which is chronicled in the sacred songs that narrate these Ancestral actions over land, through the sea and ether. It is worth noting that Yolŋu ‘science’ portrays this energy burst as coming up from the land which is now recognised by Western science as the precursor to downward lightning ‘strikes’...

Collections : Winner of the 2018 Tesltra Award (Museum of Darwin. Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat VIC. Artbank, Sydney NSW. Holmes a Court Collection, Perth WA. Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth WA. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra ACT...

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