Bäru story
1990
- Medium
- earth pigments on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.)
- Measurements
- 113.6 × 70.7 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Gunyangara, Northern Territory
- Accession Number
- O.112-1990
- Department
- First Nations Australia
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased from Admission Funds, 1990
© The Estate of Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu, courtesy of Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation - Gallery location
- Gallery 2
Ground Level, NGV Australia - About this work
-
Gaymala, who was the daughter of Muŋurrawuy and sister to Galarrwuy and Mandawuy Yunupiŋu, began painting in the 1990s. She was one of the first women to paint on bark, which was once exclusively the domain of men. Depicted are two Ancestral beings known as Bäru – the crocodile. For Yolŋu people, Bäru is a profoundly important animal and totem. Central to many Ancestral stories, Bäru is the carrier of gurtha (fire) and is connected to a special and powerful story belonging to the Gumatj people.