Larrakitj (4793K), 2015, Nonggirrnga Marawili
(back left lorrkon)
Lorrkon
Provenance: Buku Larrnggay Mulka, Yirkalla.
Esteemed Buku Larrnggay Mulka artist, Nonggirrnga Marawili is known for her bark paintings and Larrakitj, but began working as a successful printmaker. Her works are unplanned and organic, and draw upon her understanding of her culture, history and environment. Marawili combines the distinct motifs of her own Madarrpa clan, her husband’s Djapu clan and her mother’s Galpu clan with the use of negative space to create uniquely striking patterns in her artwork. Nonggirrnga Marawili was the winner of the prestigious Bark Painting Award at both the 2015 and 2019 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (1).
The Lorrkkon 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.