Songs of contact and communication

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Songs of contact and communication


Related works by two highly respected Aboriginal artists, Jack Wunuwun and John Bulun Bulun, are being shown together for the first time in an exhibition opening on 15 May at the University of Technology, Sydney Gallery. Drawn from the Holmes à Court Collection, the exhibition Manikay (Song Cycle), presents a series by each artist illustrating song cycles from their respective language groups. The Morning Star (Barnumbirr Manikay) series by Jack Wunuwun, consists of a single large canvas and 30 small bark paintings produced two years before his death in 1990. John Bulun Bulun, Wunuwun's brother-in-law, produced his Murrukundja Manikay cycle of one large canvas and 25 small bark paintings in response to the Morning Star series. Wunuwun's art is deeply rooted in a desire to communicate and educate. He worked towards bridging the cultural gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians through his paintings. Wunuwun was the ceremonial leader of his clan, the Murrungun Djinang, whose country is at Gamerdi, east of the Blyth River in Arnhem Land. His major personal totem was the morning star and this series depicts the elaborate morning star ceremony of his Dhuwa moiety. It celebrates the cycles of nature through symbols of birth, death and creation. In the 1960s Wunuwun set up home with his brother-in-law John Bulun Bulun, who is a senior member of the Ganalbingu group and is one of the most important singers and ceremonial men in north-central Arnhem Land. Bulun Bulun's series of work illustrates a Yirridja moiety song cycle associated with the creation of Ganalbingu clan lands in the Arafura swamp. His work is known for its fine quality crosshatching (rarrk), the shimmer created by the use of whites and the minimal yet monumental aspects of his designs. The large canvas contains the most important abstract and figurative elements of his clan's creation myth and contains references to social and cultural contact with Macassan traders from south Sulawesi, who were visiting northern Australia prior to the arrival of Europeans on the continent. The individual barks represent the songs and dances that are performed by the Ganalbingu people in related annual ceremonies; at Marradjirri (ceremony to celebrate the birth of a child), Djapi (initiation) and Murukundjeh (mortuary) ceremonies. Manikay (Song Cycle) runs from 15 May until 13 June at the UTS Gallery, Level 4, 702 Harris St, Ultimo. Thursday 8 May 2003