Fish traps
1983
- Medium
- earth pigments on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.)
- Measurements
- 167.3 × 118.2 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Gochan Jiny-jirra, Northern Territory
- Accession Number
- 1996.377
- Department
- First Nations Australia
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Dr Milton Roxanas, Governor, 1996
©Les Mirrikkurriya/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
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
-
As a young man, Mirrikkurriya held various jobs in Maningrida settlement, such as grading the airstrip. He did army training in Darwin, wearing a uniform and shooting ‘toy’ guns. He then moved around the Northern Territory droving cattle in Bamyili and Borroloola. On his return to Maningrida around 1980, Midikkurriya settled on his Country at Gochan Jiny-jirra outstation. In this work, the artist depicts two fish traps associated with mortuary rites of the Rembarrnga people. The fish contained in these traps represent spirits of the deceased. In the background are ancestral women with woven bags and clusters of woven bags emanating from pandanus palms, the source of fibre woven by ancestral women associated with the artist’s clan.
- Physical description
- The artist depicts two fish traps associated with mortuary rites of the Rembarrnga people. The fish contained in these fish traps represent spirits of the deceased. In the background are found ancestral women with woven bags and clusters of woven bags emanating from pandanus palms, the source of fibre woven by ancestral women associated with the artist's clan.