Living by the Sea

Artist Marrnyula Munuŋgurr (1964)

Date1998

Object number00033788

DCMITypeStill image

NameBark painting

MediumNatural pigments on bark

DimensionsOverall: 1120 × 940 mm, 4.1 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with the assistance of Stephen Grant of the GrantPirrie Gallery

Terms

DescriptionA painting on bark by Marrnyula Munuŋgurr titled 'Living by the Sea'. It depicts the Yolŋu people of East Arnhem Land living and interacting with the sea, their traditional camps and ways of hunting. People can be seen preparing harpoons to catch turtles and dugongs, while others collect crabs for bait. The sea is shown busy and full of marine life. Marrnyula Munuŋgurr is a senior printmaker and painter who began working for the Buku- Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in the 1980s. She is a Dhuwa woman from Wandawuy.HistoryThe Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land inhabit a landscape that was formed by the actions of ancestral beings, who can take both human and animal form. For instance water now flows where these creatures walked and hills have formed where they died. Ancestral time is not just in the past but also the present and future. In light of this the sacred landscape and stories of East Arnhem Land are central to the Yolŋu people’s way of life and prominent themes in their bark paintings. The Saltwater Project was initiated in 1996 after an illegal fishing camp was discovered at Garranali, a sacred Aboriginal site in East Arnhem Land. This sacred area is home to the ancestral crocodile Bäru and found among the litter of the camp was the severed head of a crocodile. This discovery prompted the local Yolŋu people to produce a series of bark paintings that expressed the rules, philosophies and stories of their region. The project culminated in the production of 80 barks that stressed the importance of Yolŋu land ownership, laws and codes of behaviour for those who interacted with the landscape. The Yolŋu have been involved in the land rights struggle since the 1960s. They are currently recognised as the traditional owners of northeast Arnhem Land under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. This act was passed in the Northern Territory in 1976 and is seen as the benchmark for the recognition of Aboriginal land ownership in Australia. Despite this the issues of Indigenous land ownership, rights, customs and law continue to be contentious in the Australian legal system and wider community.SignificanceMarrnyula Munuŋgurr's painting represents the people of the Djapu clan in the homeland of Wandawuy. It is one of 80 barks that were painted by the Yolŋu people in East Arnhem Land for the Saltwater Project. It highlights the importance of the Saltwater Country for the Yolŋu and the repect they have for the sea.