111981904912

Published by CompNet Systems on

Kurrurldurl – Milmilngkan

In this work Semeria depicts the designs and country of the Kurulk clan estate. Whilst it is an ‘outside’ or public design that she has the authority to depict, rarrk (cross-hatching) is considered sacred and powerful to all Kuninjku artists as it is the energy of the ancestor beings. Semeria’s rarrk references the creek, mankabo, that flows from Kurrurldul to Milmingkan outstations. It is represented by the white lines which wander over the bark’s surface. The work also depicts three important waterholes near the artist’s outstation Milmingkan.

Categories: Maningrida Arts & Culture

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. 

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