Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu | National Museum of Australia

Gumatj clan, Yirritja moiety

Colour photograph portrait of a man. - click to view larger image — Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu

About 1905–1979

Muŋgurrawuy was a senior Gumatj cultural leader, one of the Yirritja painters of the Yirrkala Church Panels (1963) and a signatory to the Aboriginal Bark Petition presented to the Australian Government in 1963. He belongs to a family dynasty that includes his sons – the politician Galarrwuy Yunupiŋu and the recently deceased leader of the rock band Yothu Yindi – and three artist daughters.

Muŋgurrawuy’s work featured in several international exhibitions, including: Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings 1912–1964 in Liverpool, England, in 1965; Dreamings at the Asia Society Galleries, New York, in 1988; and Aratjara, which toured Europe in 1993–94.

Paintings in the exhibition

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts a central pointed shape which contains twelve dancing figures. To the right of this there is a further panel with four dancing figures with another figure in the panel below this. To the left of the main panel there are three panels filled with red, yellow and white diamond shapes. Towards the top there are two further panels one on the left and one on the right each depicting a small figure and a spider. - click to view larger image — *Ŋärra Ceremony at Biranybirany*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. The painting is divided into two sections with the lower one having a scalloped edge. The painting depicts people singing and playing as well as a kangaroo, birds and bats. The upper section has two long panels featuring yellow figures in rows. The lower panel depicts a dog, a lizard, hunters and birds. - click to view larger image — *The Eagle Hawk Men and the Flying Fox Girls*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts a black male figure who has just set fire to the bush. There are three kangaroos, a bandicoot and two goannas fleeing from the flames. On the left two women are seated on the ground. There are vertical bands at the top and yellow diamond and black diamond shapes in the central section. - click to view larger image — *The Great Bushfire Dreaming of the Gumatj People*

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All these bark paintings are part of the National Museum of Australia’s collection. © the artist or the artist’s estate, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency 2013, unless otherwise specified. These images must not be reproduced in any form without permission.

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