Rebecca Wurrkidj (Njimimjuma), Waterhole at Barlparnarra, 74x40cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Rebecca Wurrkidj (Njimimjuma)
• Community - Maningrida
• Homeland - Kakodbebuldi
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Maningrida Arts and Culture
• Catalogue number - 1113-22
• Materials - Pandanus and Natural Dyes
• Size(cm) - H74 W40

The artist has depicted gachalan - Merten’s Water Goannas [Varanus mertensi] - at a waterhole in the large swamp called Barlparnarra. The swamp lies to the north-west of Gochan Jiny-jirra, where Ngamandara lives. Ngamandara is a senior custodian for Barlparnarra, which is a complex of important sacred sites for the Jowunga moiety group throughout central Arnhem Land. It is associated with the creation myth of the two sisters, which has a number of versions celebrated throughout Arnhem Land. The sisters are commonly known as Djangkawu, but in the Barlparnarra version, they are called Murlurlu. Many dreaming tracks of mythological beings associated with the two sisters converge at this site and ceremonies which celebrate their journeys are still held there. The water goanna ancestral creator being is deeply associated with the two sisters story. There are a number of sacred sites, which are attributed to the water goanna dotted throughout Arnhem Land, including Barlparnarra, Miwirnbi, Ngarla Ji-bama and Ji-marda. The goanna’s route from place to place is said to link people belonging to different clan groups across wide tracts of country. Here the artist is sharing a story, which proves his custodianship of a particular estate and simultaneously flags his membership of a wider network of kinship links, which share a common Dreaming in the water goanna. Barlparnarra is also a major hunting and gathering site providing many vegetable foods such as spike rush corms and waterlilies. Game animals are also hunted at Barlpanarra as they are attracted to the waterhole to drink. Fishing is also an activity very popular in this area.

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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