Nanih nawu Djabbo, dja Dird, benedangwerreni, bu dabborrabbolk ngandimarneyolyolmeng.
Djabbo the Quoll had an argument with Dird the Moon. The old people told us that story.
(Nganjmirra, Nawakadj, ‘Kunwinjku Spirit’, Melbourne University Press, 1997, p. 120)
This painting depicts a sacred site at ‘Kurrurldul’, an outstation south of Maningrida.
The ‘rarrk’, or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called ‘Djimarr’. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The ‘Djimarr’ rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.
The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor ‘Djimarr’. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred ‘Mardayin’ ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.
The images in this painting refer to a site in the clan estate of the artist, at a place called Dirdbim which literally means ‘image of the moon’. The site is a large, unusually round hole in sandstone, residual on the plain not far from the Mann River. Mick Kubarkku is an artist well known for his paintings of the full and new moons, the sun and the stars. He also taught several family members to paint this important dreaming. Here Lulu Laradjbi, Mick Kubarrkus’s wife, has painted the full and new moon called dird bukkulurl and lirrk kurrmeng in the Eastern Kunwinjku language.
The large hole is said to be the full moon created by the rainbow serpent Ngalyod, who pierced the rock in times of the ‘dreaming’ and left the shape of the full moon. Dirdbim is not far from the artists’ residence today at Yikarrakkal and the area is rich in rock art and old camping sites. As well there are numerous human remains, bones wrapped up in paper bark and older remains lying in clefts of sandstone shelters. The Eastern Kunwinjku people of the district have always used Dirdbim as a mortuary site because of the mythological history of the area which is connected to the moon story. This is because the mythology of the moon ancestor relates how his adversary, the spotted quoll, argued with the moon over the fate of humanity. The quoll decided he would die once and once only but the moon took his place in the sky to be reborn each lunar month. Because of this Kubarkku often painted this subject with bones or murrngno surrounding the image, just as human bones surround the actual site at Dirdbim.
The techniques of bark painting are usually handed down from one generation to the next, as are the rights of each artist to a particular site or ‘dreaming’. The similarity between this painting by Laradjbi, and some of her husband’s paintings is a reflection of this process of transmission.
The bones are Djulng at Naborlkabotme. Djulng refers to the bones of dead Ancestral beings. There are some in a hole in the rock at this place.
This painting depicts a sacred site at ‘Kurrurldul’, an outstation south of Maningrida.
The ‘rarrk’, or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called ‘Djimarr’. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The ‘Djimarr’ rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.
The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor ‘Djimarr’. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred ‘Mardayin’ ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.
The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets. Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.
The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets. Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.
The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets. Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.
The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets. Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.
The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets. Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.