Norman Wilfred, Hollow Coffin Log, 78cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Norman Wilfred
• Community - Ngukurr
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Ngukurr Arts Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 357/22
• Materials - Acrylic paint on a refined hollow log
• Size(cm) - H78 W10 D9
• Postage variants - N/A
• Orientation - Freestanding

'This is a Hollow Coffin Log. Coffin Logs were used in the olden days to bury people. Their bones were wrapped in paper bark and put in the hollow log. They are made from termite-eaten wood.' – Norman Wilfred

Norman Nullundala Wilfred was born in Mountain Valley in 1964. He grew up in Ngukurr but walked all over this country from Ngukurr to Ngilibitji. When he was 16, he walked to Walker River and set up camp there and started looking for his country with his father. After a couple of days they found Ngilibitji. They stopped there, built a paper bark house and lived on bush food and bush medicine. It was there that Norman was taught painting from his father, using paper bark as a surface. People would fly in from Katherine to buy all their paintings. They lived in the bush right through the wet season.

In his early 20s, Norman returned to Ngukurr and has been painting on and off ever since with the knowledge he learnt from his father.

Ngukurr Arts Centre sits a stone’s throw from the banks of the Roper River in South East Arnhem Land. Ngukurr Arts, like the town of Ngukurr itself, is unique – bringing together people of many different clans and language groups.

There has never been one distinct school or style associated with Ngukurr Arts but what is typical of the work is boldness – the legacy of artists who have gone before, such as Ginger Riley, Gertie Huddlestone, Sambo Barra Barra and Maureen Thomson. Over time, Ngukurr artists have become renowned for their adventurous styles in interpreting stories and landscapes.

Today, artists are supported to explore new techniques. Each artist recontextualises the technique in relation to their own country and culture, to create works that are wholly unique.

In this place of many stones, diversity is a strength. Many artists of different influences work alongside each other balancing the old and the new, passing on the stories that link us all.

Text: Courtesy Ngukurr Arts Aboriginal Corporation