Three female dancing Mimih spirits
(1950s)
- Medium
- earth pigments on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.)
- Measurements
- 89.5 × 40.0 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Minjilang, Croker Island, Northern Territory
- Accession Number
- 2014.366
- Department
- First Nations Australia
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Margaret Bullen through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2014
© The Artist/Licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited - Gallery location
- Gallery 5
Level 2, NGV Australia - About this work
-
Jimmy Midjawmidjaw represents slender female Mimih spirits of the Stone Country engaging in a lithesome ceremonial dance. The faces, limbs and torsos of these beings credited with teaching Kunwinjku people how to hunt, make love, dance, sing and paint, are lightly embellished with crisscross and horizontal markings that allude to customary ritual. The positioning of the figures’ arms and feet suggests uninhibited movement, and the clear delineation of their ample breasts accentuates their femaleness. They are painted in the old East Alligator River style, exemplified by rock paintings from Deaf Adder Creek and Nourlangie Rock in Western Arnhem Land.