Djirrirra Wunungmurra

Untitled (4827Y), 2015

(White lorrkon front and centre)

Lorrkon
Provenance: Buku-Larrngay Mulka, Yirrkala NT.

Yuwuka, 2011

Earth pigment on wood, 161cm
Provenance: Buku-Larrngay Mulka, Yirrkala NT. Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne.
Exhibited: Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne 2012.

Untitled

Bark painting, 21cm x 61cm
Provenance: Buku-Larrngay Mulka, Yirrkala NT.

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Djirrirra Wunungmurra assisted her father, Yanggarriny Wunungmurra, in his Telstra Award winning painting of 1997 and continually up until his death in 2003. While she still assists her brother, she primarily paints her own pieces. In 2012, she continued the family’s recognition when she was awarded Best Bark at the 29th NATSIAA with a new theme- Yukuwa. Wunungmurra’s precise hand and geometric style has moved beyond naturally occurring ochres and bark, to recycled industrial materials like perspex. Yukuwa is one of the personal names of the artist and Yukuwa has become a distinct theme in her practice. This motif first arose when she had been challenged about her right to paint Buyku the fishtrap imagery of her own clan and homeland by a family member (1).

The Lorrkon or bone pole coffin ceremony was the final ceremony in a sequence of mortuary rituals celebrated by the people of Arnhem Land. This ceremony involves the placing of the deceased’s bones into a hollow log, which is decorated with painted clan designs and ceremonially placed into the ground where it remained until it slowly decay over many years. The log is made from a termite hollowed stringybark tree (Eucalyptus tetradonta) and is decorated with totemic emblems.

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