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The images in this painting refer to a site in the clan estate of the artist, at a place called Dirdbim, which literally means 'image of the moon'. The site is a large, unusually round hole in sandstone, residual on the plain not far from the Mann River. Mick Kubarkku is an artist well known for his paintings of the full and new moons, the sun, and the stars. He also taught several family members to paint this important dreaming. Here, Lulu Laradjbi, Mick Kubarkku's wife, has painted the full and new moon called dird bukkurl and lirrk kurrmeng in the Eastern Kunwinjku language. The large hole is said to be the full moon created by the rainbow serpent Ngalyod, who pierced the rock in times of the 'dreaming' and left the shape of the full moon. Dirdbim is not far from the artists’ residence today at Yikarrakkal, and the area is rich in rock art and old camping sites. As well, there are numerous human remains, bones wrapped up in paperbark and older remains lying in clefts of sandstone shelters. The Eastern Kunwinjku people of the district have always used Dirdbim as a mortuary site because of the mythological history of the area which is connected to the moon story. This is because the mythology of the moon ancestor relates how his adversary, the spotted quoll, argued with the moon over the fate of humanity. The quoll decided he would die once and only once, but the moon took his place in the sky to be reborn each lunar month. Because of this, Kubarkku often painted this subject with bones or murrngno surrounding the image, just as human bones surround the actual site at Dirdbim. The techniques of bark painting are usually handed down from one generation to the next, as are the rights of each artist to a particular site or 'dreaming'. The similarity between this painting by Laradjbi and some of her husband’s paintings is a reflection of this process of transmission.
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An art movement that is striking, political and enduring: this is what contemporary artists in Maningrida and the surrounding homelands have built, powered by their ancestral connections to country and djang.
Ways of learning and schools of art in Arnhem Land are based around a system of passing knowledge and information on to others. The art here has its genesis in body design, rock art and cultural practices, in concert with more than 50 years of collaborations, travel and political action to retain ownership of country. Values and law are expressed through language, imagery, manikay (song), bunggul (dance), doloppo bim (bark painting), sculptures, and kun-madj (weaving) – the arts.
The artists’ transformation of djang into contemporary artistic expression has intrigued people around the world: art curators and collectors, and stars including Yoko Ono, Jane Campion, David Attenborough and Elton John. Pablo Picasso said of Yirawala’s paintings, ‘This is what I’ve been trying to achieve all my life.’
Yirawala (c.1897–1976) was a legendary Kuninjku leader, artist, land-rights activist and teacher, and his artwork was the first of any Indigenous artist to be collected by the National Gallery of Australia as part of a policy to represent in depth the most significant figures in Australian art.
Maningrida Arts & Culture is based on Kunibídji country in Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory. The area where artists live encompasses 7,000 square kilometres of land and sea, and over 100 clan estates, where people speak more than 12 distinct languages. Aboriginal people in this region are still on country, surviving and resilient because their country is the centre of their epistemology, their belief system, culture – djang.
Artists’ works from the larger Maningrida region can be seen in collections and institutions around the world. We work with museums, contemporary galleries and high-end retailers both nationally and internationally on projects throughout the year.
Text courtesy: Maningrida Arts and Culture
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This bark painting has a metal support to retain its shape and provides a hanging hook for hanging from. No further framing is required or recommended.
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