Mulkun Wirrpanda is a senior female artist for the Dhudi-Djapu clan from Dhuruputjpi. She is the daughter of the late Dhåkiyarr Wirrpanda and widow to Wakuthi Marawili, a Madarrpa clan leader who lived at Yilpara until his death in 2005. She is also mother (by kinship) to senior artist and clan leader Djambawa Marawili. Wirrpanda paints Dhudi-Djapu miny'tji (sacred design) that depicts her land at Dhuruputjpi. As the eldest and most knowledgeable of her clan, she is acknowledged as a leader - one of the few Yolnu women to have this status. Wirrpanda was an early practitioner of works without figurative imagery within the miny'tji. Her recent barks describe the rainforest area known as Gawarratja, belonging to a nearly extinct clan group, the Manatja. The design is rarely seen but was reproduced on the cover of the Yothu Yindi album Birrkuta. The liner notes accompanying state amongst other things, “The design on the cover relates to the production of bush honey, Barrngitj, created by the small black honeybee, Birrkuta. The painting depicts the hive on the inside of a tree, the diamonds and the cross hatchings representing the honeycomb.”
The country that edges into Dhudi Djapu clan land on this estate is country associated with Dhalwanu clan lore. It is a Honey site of Ancestral times sung by the Yirritja. Icons of the sugar bag, a manifestation of this deep-seated knowledge, is depicted. The events that took place here give the Dhalwanu and associates spiritual rites of country.
Since 2007 Djalinda Yunupingu has distinguished herself as an innovator with the mixing of traditional pigments to create new tones such as pink and green. Her paintings are characterised by their graceful sophistication, much the way the artist is considered amongst her peers.
Yunupingu paints her mother’s Rirratjinu clan sea country at Yirrkala, the waters between the mainland and Bremer Island where the artist lives and works. These waters are shared with the Djambarrpuyngu clan, and host the sacred rock, Manhala. It is a body of water where turtle swim and feed on the Yathiny, a star shaped anemone-like colony of single cell organisms known in English as Porpita Porpita which presents as a disc up to 5cm across with fine blue hair like scillae, floating on the surface of the water. This is the food of turtles and a Dhuwa icon.
Looking up the coast from Yirrkala about two kilometres is the rocky escarpment leading down into the sea known as Galariya by the Rirratjinu. Off shore from there the island of Dhambaliya (Bremer Island) can be seen. These two areas and the sea in between is an important site influenced by Djambawal the Thunder Man and Daymirri the Ancestral Whale.
The Ancestral Hunters took turtle in these waters and also left their mark on the mainland at Galariya as well as Dhambaliya. The land and associated events connect the two clan groups of the Rirratjinu and Djambarrpuynu who have custodial rites to this country. These Ancestral Hunters manifested as rock that are still seen today as prominent parts of the beach under Galariya. The people of today use these rocks as a wishing place. They are covered with offerings (stones and lumps of coral), thrown on top by fishermen anticipating a good catch.
The pairing of these two women is significant in that it represents the breadth of talent coming out of the Yirrkala Art Centre. Whilst Wirrpanda has exhibited extensively in Australia and abroad for over a decade, it marks the first solo exhibition for Yunupingu. Both women are deeply connected to their country through ancestral stories and spiritual rites. Through the innovation and development of their work we are privileged to learn these stories, which not long ago, were restricted only for ceremonial use.
Mossenson Galleries is proud to present the works of Mulkun Wirrpanda and Djalinda Yunupingu. The exhibitions open on Saturday 3 December 2011, 2-4 pm at Mossenson Galleries Collingwood. For further information contact the gallery on (03) 9417 6694 or collingwood@mossensongalleries.com.au.