Untitled (Turtle and Fish) by Dhuwarrwarr Marika

Artist Dhuwarrwarr Marika (1946)

Date2004

Object number00047709

NamePrint

MediumScreen print on paper

DimensionsOverall: 565 x 765 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Terms

DescriptionA screen print by Dhuwarrwarr Marika depicting fish and a turtle. Dhuwarrwarr Marika uses many art forms including bark painting, wood sculpture, weaving and printmaking to tell stories of Ancestors, daily life and particular events associated with her homeland of Yirrkala. This screenprint, edition 30 of 30, shows a major marine food source for the region - turtle and fish.HistoryDhuwarrwarr Marika is an artist from East Arnhem Land who belongs to the Dhuwa moiety of the Rirratjingu Clan in the homeland of Yalangbara. Their clan language is Dhangu. Dhuwarrwarr is sister of Wandjuk, Bayngul and Banduk Marika, and daughter of Mawalan, the Rirratjingu clan leader who originally welcomed the missionaries to set up on his land, creating the beginnings of modern day Yirrkala. "From that time when my father was painting my elder sister helped him, but she is a - little blind now. From when I was twelve to this time I started to paint. Sometimes I used to help my father. Currently I am doing my own art using the same design - my father's design but my own imagination. I am teaching my brothers children for all the paintings as well as my children. I ask them to come and watch me. I use my own colours from the shore - the yellow and the red, just a rock, and the black - not charcoal. Like my brother (Wandjuk) I sometimes mix yellow and black to make green. Like this one (gapari - white clay) I used to go and get it in a bucket and mash it up and leave it in the sun to dry."SignificanceThis screenprint is by the well respected Indigenous artist Dhuwarrwarr Marika and depicts a story and activity that specifically relates to her homeland Yirrkala.