Name: Semeria Wurrkidj
Language: Kuninjku
Community: Maningrida
Biography:
Semeria is a painter and sculptor. She specialising in bark painting, dolobbo bim, and carvings depicting spirit beings, such as yawkyawk and mimih that reside on her clan estate, Kurulk. She is the daughter of acclaimed artists John Mawurndjul and Kay Lindjuwanga. She is part of the next generation of Kuninjku artists trained and working in the designs of her father whose career has been celebrated for decades. She depicts designs for which Mawurndjul has given permission to represent, including Wak (Black Crow) and mankabo, the creek that runs from Milmingkan to Kurrurldul outstations.
Like other Kuninjku artists, Wurrkidj maintains the cultural knowledge and practices of working with natural materials: ochres which are mixed with water and PVA fixative and applied with manyilk (sedge grass) to bark (stingybark) in the Wet season and lorrkkon (hollow log burial poles) and spirit carvings in the Dry season. She primarily engages the red, yellow, black and white palette of her father, but achieves a softer effect.
Ngorla (didjeridu) Arnhem Land and the Top End of the Northern Territory is the traditional home of the didjeridu, a rhythmic wind instrument used by Aboriginal people of the region. Its use spread globally in Read more…
Gomarla (Egret bird) The artist has carved the ‘Gomarla’, which in the Burarra word for Egret. This bird is native to the country of Yilan, which is the coastal region North West of Maningrida Community. People use Read more…
