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Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark
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  • Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
  • Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
  • Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
  • Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
  • Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
Image Loading Spinner
Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®
Aboriginal Art by Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark - ART ARK®

Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Namarrkon the Lightning Spirit, 108x50cm Bark

$1,605.00

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  • Aboriginal Artist - Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak
  • Community - Maningrida
  • Homeland - Yikarrakkal Kubumi
  • Aboriginal Art Centre - Maningrdia Arts
  • Catalogue number - 608-22
  • Materials - Earth pigments on stringybark
  • Size(cm) - H108 W50 D2 (irregular)
  • Orientation - As displayed
  • Postage variant - Delivered ready to hang with a metal mount on the reverse

Namarden or Namarrkon are Eastern Kunwinjku names for the Lightning Spirit. This entity, which is responsible for lightning and thunder, is painted on both stone and bark in a form described as ‘like a grasshopper’. Namarrkon is said to have made Ngaldjurr – Leichardt’s or the spectacular grasshopper [Petasia ephippigera]. The species emerges, mates and is most active and visible in the season known as Kunemeleng, between October and December when there are intense electrical storms. Ngaldjurr is then said to be ‘looking for’ Namarrkon. Namarrkon makes lightning and thunder by striking out with kurlbburru – stone axes which protrude from its joints. Today, the Kuninjku will not leave axes lying out in the open during an electrical storm as the axes act as an attraction to the destructive force of Namarrkon. The lines emanating from Namarrkon’s head are said to be mardno or lightning bolts of power.

There is a dreaming site for the lightning spirit on the Liverpool River. The site, Kukkurrh, is a high undercut red gravel bank on a bend in the river. The rest of the country along the river is either flat grassy plains or thick mangrove forest. The red cliffs are in startling contrast to the rest of the landscape. The Kuninjku tell of a lightning man who grew angry and began making a terrifying and destructive storm. A lightning woman began to feel sorry for the human beings who were being killed by the storm. The man and woman stood as ‘cousin’ to each other in tribal relationship – this relationship between men and women is one of restraint and avoidance. When the lightning woman grabbed her cousin to calm him down he immediately became quiet and let people live. So it is today, say the Kuninjku, if a man is fighting and no one can calm him, he will become quiet if his cousin tries to restrain him

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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