Ŋoŋu Ganambarr

(born 1967)

Waŋupini, 2016

Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala (cat.1616-16)
Corporate collection, Sydney

The accompanying Buku-Larrnggay Mulka documentation reads: 'The clan groups of the north east Arnhem Land region are structured around a complex system of kinship law. As with Yolŋu personal relationships, ie with mother, with father, uncle, grandfather or wife or child, a particular Yolŋu clan will have these same relationships with other clans. This creates a network that links the ancestral events of creation which is said to have its foundations laid down by the Waŋarr (creator beings) of this time.

These Ancestral creators, manifest in the ability to change form and travel vast distances, shaped the landscape, populated the land and gave the people Yolŋu Rom - lore that encompasses languages, law and title to land, song dance and ceremony - all factors that build the sophisticated complexities of kinship structure.

This, as with many works produced from this area explains a basic foundation to a particular event(s) associated with the artists clan, and by following networks established within Yolŋu culture, associations with other clans, lands and events are revealed. This information is divulged to outsiders at different levels according to the confidence that the narrator has of his listeners ability to comprehend. The 'bottom line' of meaning of Yolŋu images of miny'tji (sacred design) remains secret with the fully initiated male.

This work belongs to the Wangurri clan. This is recognised by the fact that miny'tji (sacred clan design- the detailed cross hatching 'behind' the figurative imagery) belonging to the Wangurri covers the piece. This pole shows disguised representations of a mangrove log washed in from saltwater Maŋgalili country into the Wangurri clan freshwater area of Gularri, the Cato River.

It contained Milka or mangrove worms which died once it washed into the fresh water. This pattern was etched in the log and is here repeated as the Wangurri sacred clan design which appears throughout. The songs of the Wangurri invest this log with sacred power allowing it to make paths that other beings and landscape features could follow.

It is also a representation of the 'mangrove worm' with its wood eating jaws shut. Here the log has completed a journey through the tidal interplay of fresh, salt and brackish to the fresh waters of Gularri near Dhalinybuy - the actual residence of the artist and homeland for the Waŋgurri.

The Wangurri often show the head of the log in its feminine shape as the anvil shaped Wet Season cumulo-nimbus as here. Within the design of the freshwater Wangurri water which covers the log is the hidden image of Ŋoykal the ancestral being taking the guise of the Turrum or Greater Trevally. In this guise the tail of the fish is the cloud used by Ŋoykal to get back to Maŋgalili country for the beginning of the wet season.

There is a metaphor for the soul's journey from life to death to rest to rebirth. The log also has reference to the canoe used by the ancestral hunters who were the first Maŋgalili people to die, having drowned at sea, and the hollow log used for final mortuary rites.

This work is a rarity as it is the first Waŋgurri work made by Ŋoŋu Ganambarr. He did this in his role as a djuŋgaya (cultural manager) for his mother clan the Waŋgurri. This work was made at a period where he was assisting and learning from the cultural leader of the Waŋgurri Buwathay Munyarryun at Dhalinybuy.

The sculptural form at the top of the work relates to the cloud but also includes Ganyṯjurr (Heron). Gany'tjurr is the reef heron totemic to several of the Yirritja clan groups that inhabit the areas around Yolŋu saltwater areas. Its actions during Ancestral times are sung by these Yirritja in shared manikay (sacred and ritual song) usually pertaining to the movement of the tides.'

image: second larrakitj from the left