Dugong at Baraltja and Yathikpa
2018
- Medium
- earth pigments on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.)
- Measurements
- 65.0 × 48.5 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Yilpara, Northern Territory
- Inscription
- inscribed (vertically) in fibre-tipped pen on reverse c.: 2908-18
- Accession Number
- 2018.1342
- Department
- First Nations Australia
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, NGV Supporters of Indigenous Art, 2018
© Wurrandan Marawili/ Courtesy Buku Larrnggay-Mulka - Gallery location
- Gallery 2
Ground Level, NGV Australia - About this work
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Like many Yolŋu artists, Wurrandan Marawilli achieves great detail in his bark paintings through his use of a marwat (a human-hair brush that has only a few hairs attached to the handle). These intensely delicate diamond designs are drawn together with an inventive palette and experimental composition. The pair of works depict the saltwater country of Yathikpa, a special place associated with Bäru, the Ancestral Crocodile, a motif you can see throughout Bark Salon.
These are two of the first works produced by Wurrandan since he began painting on bark for Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts Centre. The artist has carefully applied ochre to create a fluid composition of concentric diamonds which mask two dugong in an Escher-like labyrinth of shape, tone and colour. The vitality of accents representing water currents have been applied in a way that is characteristic of women’s Maḏarrpa iconography, making this a particularly unusual and unexpected work from a male artist. The composition signifies a radical departure from traditional Yolŋu men’s painting styles.
