Like all cultures, Aboriginal art in north eastern Arnhem Land has evolved over time. For three hundred years Yolngu traded with Macassans from the southern Celebes. Many aspects of Macassan culture have been incorporated into Yolngu language, ceremony, songs and imagery. Yolngu have also incorporated Christianity into their worldview.

Wilbur Chaseling, who established Yirrikala in 1935, encouraged the production of bark paintings as a means of economic return and employment. Artists like Narritjin Maymuru and Wongu Mununggurr also produced bark paintings in response to the interest of the anthropologists Ronald Berndt and Donald Thomson.

Increasingly Yolngu have used their art to secure respect and recognition for their culture as in the Elcho Island Memorial 1957, the Yirrikala Church panels of 1962 and the Bark Petition of 1963 delivered to parliament to secure recognition for land rights.

Read pp.126-32,
152-58; 183-93; 221-27

How is the power of ancestral beings expressed through art, myth and ceremony?

Wangarr

In central and eastern Arnhem Land the Dreaming corresponds with the Yolngu word wangarr. The wangarr is associated with the ancestral past, the period when creator ancestors travelled the land creating the people, the major forms of the landscape, the animals, plants and songs.

After they completed their journey ancestral beings returned back into the land and during ceremonies they re-emerge from the land. Ceremonies are therefore a focal point of Aboriginal life in the Arnhem Land. They are held for funerals (mortuary ceremonies), initiations, fertility and for diplomacy. Ceremonies are therefore a ‘restoration of the Dreaming in the present’ (Morphy p.183).

The production of an artwork, whether it is a bark painting or a fibre mat, is another way of expressing this connection to the Dreaming. Art is both an expression of the Dreaming and it provides a connection with the ancestral past. Art is connected to place and the actions of creation ancestors associated with particular sites. Myths create connections between clans and indicate their differences.

In the next section we look in more detail at two of the major creation myths in central and north eastern Arnhem Land: the Wagilag Sisters and Djang’kawu sisters.

Dhuwa and Yirritja

Yolngu society is essentially dualistic. According to this system all aspects of the universe are divided into two complementary moieties: Dhuwa and Yirritja. Moieties are connected to particular stories, ceremonies and ancestral beings. Each of the moieties has a key design:

• Yirritja, a linked diamond pattern; and
• Dhuwa, intersecting parallel lines within rectangular blocks.

It is possible to identify the work of individual artists within each clan according to their moiety, although the precise meaning of the design will vary according to the shape and scale of the design and the context in which it is used. To see clan variations within diamond designs refer to your set text, Morphy (Illus. 98).

A Sacred Geometry

In this reading, Judith Ryan explains the ancestral power imbued in clan designs.

The diamond pattern of the Yirritja moiety came from the ancestor Barrama. When he emerged from the sea, the salt water, foam and salt created diamond patterns on his body. These design were given to the Yirritja clans. Within this fixed repertoire of signs and symbols, meaning will vary according to context. The Yirritja design of linked diamonds may signify bees and honey, flowing water, pools of sea water trapped by the outgoing tide, the inside grain of the paper bark and fire.

In bark painting the artist begins by laying down a red ochre ground. The painting is then divided into feature blocks to create a map of country. The main design is outlined in black and yellow and in-filled with crosshatching. The aim of the crosshatching is to transform the surface of painting from dullness to shimmering brilliance (bir’yun) as an expression of marr, or ancestral power.

Ryan differentiates between secular and sacred paintings. Bark paintings range across a continuum of inside and outside meanings. In paintings produced for the commercial market, complex narratives have been introduced to generate respect yet protect inside meanings.

An artist's project

In this reading Banduk Marika, a leading Yirrkala artist and daughter of a senior artist, is interviewed by curator Margie West.

Banduk describes how she has progressed from simple designs to more complex images that translate her father’s and sister’s designs. She explains the process of negotiating with her family over her rights to use particular designs that are part of the intellectual property rights of the clan.

The interview shows that despite the pressures of contemporary life elders continue to maintain control over rights to designs. It also reinforces the important role played by Aboriginal women in the production of art.

For an example of Banduk Marika’s work, see Morphy (Illus. 100).

Dhuwa and Yirritja Designs

Look at the following paintings by Dhuwa and Yirritja artists:

• Figure 10 - Gawirrin Gumana, Dhalwangu clan, Yirritja moiety), Lightning Snake and Barramundi. 1990.
• Figure 11 - Mithili Wanambi, (Marrakulu clan, Dhuwa moiety) Gundimulk: Sacred Ceremonial Ground, 1975.

Can you identify the differences between the two moiety designs?

1. Dhuwa, intersecting parellel lines within rectangular blocks.
2. Yirritja, a linked diamond pattern.