Garawan Wanambi Australian, Yolngu, b. 1965
Unititled (Luck)
natural earth pigment on bark
89 x 57 cm
828406
This work has exhibited at Garawan's first solo exhibition held at Niagara Galleries in Melbourne. It has been exhibited in the 25th Jubilee Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander...
This work has exhibited at Garawan's first solo exhibition held at Niagara Galleries in Melbourne. It has been exhibited in the 25th Jubilee Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory which was accompanied with the following documentation.
“This painting depicts country close to Raymangirr, on the coast of Arnhem Bay. It is a sacred and restricted area where freshwater is known to spring to the surface of the beach at the low tide region.”
It was that painting which led Bill Nuttal to offer Garawan this solo exhibition at Niagara in 2009.
Garawan a Marrakulu clansman says that "Wayunrja brought me up so I'm also adopted to the Marranu clan".
The Marrakulu and Marranu are closely related clans through madayin (sacred clan mythologies and law). Both tell of the felling of monumental trees by the honey ancestor Wuyal, the scouring out of a river course by the fallen log on its way to sea, deluge of honey, floods and other apocalyptic events.
For the Marranju at a site close to coastal Raymangirr is the mouth of this river and places of non secular danger where freshwater fonts spring up into this tidal region. It has been said that if you go too close to this area you'll become sick such is the malevolent power of this sute. Mapan-Boils.
A site of the mosquito ancestors - they will waya mari (fight with spears into) the boil releasing the bloody muck. Then there is peace and calm after the storm, sun rays play on the surface of the water, another manifestation depicted within this work.
The mosquito is a symbol of aggression and the ancestral mosquitoes fight with spears as on an avenging expedition. The mosquito ancestors are associated with places of spiritual danger cause boils. Fighting is a release of tension just as the bursting of a boil.
The designs represents this place in the river mouth near Raymangrr, where freshwater springs bubble up beneath the saltwater. The designs represent the different character of the waters moving from anger to turbulence to the calm of resolution, bathed in the warmth of the sun's rays. Manifest and central to the painting is the fallen trunk.
“This painting depicts country close to Raymangirr, on the coast of Arnhem Bay. It is a sacred and restricted area where freshwater is known to spring to the surface of the beach at the low tide region.”
It was that painting which led Bill Nuttal to offer Garawan this solo exhibition at Niagara in 2009.
Garawan a Marrakulu clansman says that "Wayunrja brought me up so I'm also adopted to the Marranu clan".
The Marrakulu and Marranu are closely related clans through madayin (sacred clan mythologies and law). Both tell of the felling of monumental trees by the honey ancestor Wuyal, the scouring out of a river course by the fallen log on its way to sea, deluge of honey, floods and other apocalyptic events.
For the Marranju at a site close to coastal Raymangirr is the mouth of this river and places of non secular danger where freshwater fonts spring up into this tidal region. It has been said that if you go too close to this area you'll become sick such is the malevolent power of this sute. Mapan-Boils.
A site of the mosquito ancestors - they will waya mari (fight with spears into) the boil releasing the bloody muck. Then there is peace and calm after the storm, sun rays play on the surface of the water, another manifestation depicted within this work.
The mosquito is a symbol of aggression and the ancestral mosquitoes fight with spears as on an avenging expedition. The mosquito ancestors are associated with places of spiritual danger cause boils. Fighting is a release of tension just as the bursting of a boil.
The designs represents this place in the river mouth near Raymangrr, where freshwater springs bubble up beneath the saltwater. The designs represent the different character of the waters moving from anger to turbulence to the calm of resolution, bathed in the warmth of the sun's rays. Manifest and central to the painting is the fallen trunk.