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Kukurlk Kare (Going Underground)

Karrinung kukurlk kare, karrijare manme (we are going underground looking for food).

“This is my country. In this painting, I’m looking at her little bit different way. This is what we see when we’re kukurlk kare (going underground)

Man-kurndalh (Black plum) I call mother. It is my mother’s Djang/Dreaming. The bush onion (kulumuduk) is white, the same as onions you buy at the store. We don’t eat this one though, it’s poison.

Wayuk is the water lily, with the big root growing in the earth. This is when that water is drying up a bit. There are worms and beetles- this is what we see underground, when we are digging for manme.”

-Jennifer Wurrkidj

 

Categories: Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation

Name: Jennifer Wurrkidj (dec)

Language: Kuninjku

Community: Maningrida

Biography:

J. Wurrkidj was a highly regarded textile artist who started working at Bábbarra Women’s Centre in 2007. Her print designs featured local bush foods and food-collecting devices such as kunmadj (dilly bag), mandjabu (fish trap) whilst also referencing the activities of ancestor beings and the ceremonial sites of her homeland, Mumeka.

J.Wurrkidj also created artwork for Maningrida Arts and Culture alongside other members of her family who were also accomplished artists: her mother, H. Lanyinwanga (Dec), sister Deborah Wurrkidj and daughter Abigail Namundja. She was the daughter of Australia’s most highly acclaimed bark painter, John Mawurndjul, and renowned, in her own right for her bark paintings, hollow logs and carved sculptures. Her artwork has been exhibited throughout Australia and her textile works are in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, CDU, Bendigo Art Gallery, National Museum of Australia and has been touring internationally with Jarracharra (dry season wind) since 2019.

In her later years she focused her arts practice on mentoring her daughter Abigail Namundja who printed her lino designs in her capacity as an arts worker at Bábbarra Women’s Centre.

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