{"product_id":"dhambit-mununggurr-guḏurrku-3961-26","title":"Dhambit Munuŋgurr | Guḏurrku 3961-26","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eDhambit is the daughter of two famous artists, and winners of the First Prize in the National Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander Art Award, Mutitjpuy Mununggurr and Gulumbu Yunupingu. She was hit by a car in 2007 and suffered serious head injuries which were life threatening, and as a result she uses a wheelchair and has altered movement and speech. Through her husband’s support and her own courage she has used art to overcome the effects of the accident.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eHer art is powerful and spontaneous and founded in her deep knowledge of Yolŋu Law. Though contemporary in look, her works speak of her deep understanding of the spiritual forces of her Yolŋu country and worldview and reference her moiety and clan's songlines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eIn this case she says that this print is a depiction of a Guḏurrku (brolga) in the flood plains at Dhuruputjpi known as Garaŋarri. As is often the case when discussing such things with her she revealed an even deeper name of this place which is used rarely - Gawulawala.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eHer authority to paint this area stems from the relationship her father has with his mother's mother's Dhudi Djapu clan who are the owners of this area. It is a coastal fringe area, this Dhudi Djapu homeland, that has territory leading up a river through plains country behind an area of coast on Blue Mud Bay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eFresh water springs dot this sun baked plain forming small oases of vegetation and as Rarrandada (the hot time) builds the thirsty birds come to these sacred springs in their thousands. The noise of the guḏurrku or dhaŋgultji (brolgas) is deafening, the mud scored with their tracks and the sky dark with the flocks of wheeling birds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe Djaŋ’kawu - the Dhuwa moiety creation sisters, manifest as Brolgas, in naming this country for the Dhudi Djapu, created these sacred fresh water springfed waterholes by plunging their sacred digging sticks in the ground. Freshwater sprung from these wells as did a sacred goanna, a manifestation in some circles of the Djaŋ’kawu themselves. The reference to this area is further emphasised by the vegetation which is Ḏarraŋgi - Hanguana malayana- the icon of the billabong area of Dhuruputjpi.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003esuch as green to depict trees. In 2018 she accepted an invitation from her art centre to produce a large bark for inclusion in the Aboriginal Art Award. This autobiographical piece was produced in daily sessions in the courtyard of Buku-Larrŋgay and set the pattern for the next phase of her career. The regard and attention that this piece garnered encouraged further production of large pieces and brought her to the \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eattention of Tony Elwood of the NGV who met her in the courtyard on a visit to Yirrkala. By this stage she had settled on blue as the dominant colour for these large pieces. Elwood invited her to be a major artist in the 2020 NGV International Biennale on the spot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eIn ancestral times, the leaders of Yirritja moiety clans used fire for the first time during a ceremony at Ŋalarrwuy in Gumatj country.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThis came about as fire brought to the Maḏarrpa clan country by Bäru the ancestral crocodile, spread North and swept through the ceremonial ground. From this ceremonial ground the fire spread further to other sites. Various ancestral animals were affected and reacted in different ways. These animals became sacred totems of the Gumatj people and the areas associated with these events became important sites.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe fire spread inland from the ceremonial ground and burnt the nest of Waṉkurra (Bandicoot) forcing him to hide in a hollow log ḻarrakitj to save himself. Waṉkurra is thus danced and sung at mortuary ceremony as he is associated with the burial log used to contain the bones of the deceased.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eDjirikitj, the quail (sometimes called the’ fire making bird’), picked up a burning twig from this fire and flew away with it, dropping it at Maṯamaṯa. There is a large paperbark swamp at Maṯamaṯa, where native honey bees live. Fire from the burning twig dropped by Djirikitj took hold of the tall grass in the swamp area and the naitve bees fled to Djiliwirri in Gupapuyŋu clan country. Thus Gupapuyŋu honey and Gumatj fire are linked through these ancestral events and also refer to a relationship between these two clans which is played out in ceremony.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe Pee-Wee Biḻkpiḻk or Ḏelili built its nest high up in the trees safe from the fire- its song was to be heard after the morning of the fire. The indestructible spider Garr came out after the fire had passed and spun its web between the trees which is said to catch the souls of the Yirritja dead. Garrtjambal the kangaroo was as frightened as Waṉkurra and ran away from the fire burning his feet in the hot ash as he did so. Waṉkurra traveled through the hollow log with its tail on fire transferring the Gumatj identity to new places.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe harbinger of death is Ŋerrk, sulphur crested white cockatoo who is intimately associated with this place, these people and this ceremony. Another powerful Gumatj bird is Djilawurr whose sites are often associated with freshwater rainforest adjacent to the harbours of Macassans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThese creatures are all associated with named sites which were burnt as the ancestral fire spread across the land. Where the sites described occur outside Gumatj clan country, the path of the fire represents important relationships held between these clans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe Gumatj clan design associated with these events, a diamond design, represents fire; the red flames, the white smoke and ash, the black charcoal and the yellow dust. Also the black skin, yellow fat, white bone and red blood of Gumatj people. Clans owning connected parts of this sequence of ancestral events share variations of this diamond design.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52840731279658,"sku":null,"price":1250.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0678\/0374\/2506\/files\/DhambitRuypuMununggurr-Gu_urrku3961-26CROP_15514871-47d6-470b-8c1b-8d745fd2bdc9.jpg?v=1791944115","url":"https:\/\/brunswickstreetgallery.com.au\/products\/dhambit-mununggurr-gu%e1%b8%8furrku-3961-26","provider":"Brunswick Street Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}