Images(4)

Mänä the Tiger Shark

Date2018

Object number00055318

NameSculpture

MediumOchre, wood

DimensionsOverall: 430 × 560 × 1480 mm, 5.8 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Collections

Terms

DescriptionA Tiger shark sculpture by Djapu artist Guykuḏa Munuŋgurr who is a shark. He does and can sing this identity. But in this piece he expressly eschews any sacred interpretation in favour of form to carve the shapes that he sees as a hunter/artist/Yolŋu living at his coastal homeland of Garrthalala. HistoryGuykuḏa Munuŋgurr is the only artist at his homeland of Garrthalala. He has distinguished himself as a competely innovative sculptor who pioneers new materials and techniques. One of the themes that he has pursued is the natural representation of animal species without reference to their sacred identity. This is one such work. This shark is known by the yolngu word Mäna and represents the artist’s own identity. Although this is specifically not a sacred rendition it is worth noting that Mäna is the artist’s own Djapu clan identity. In ancestral times, Mäna travelled around the coast and through various Dhuwa moiety clan’s country and powerful spirit beings like Mäna could change form at will. These spirit beings shaped and marked the country with their activities and gave their culture to the clans. Through the knowledge and objects they left, present day clansmen affirm their rights to country and have access to the ancestral power. In Djambarrpuyŋu clan country, Mäna was hunted and killed by a Yirritja moiety spirit man, Ganbulabula. Mäna’s body was chopped up by Ganbulabula and pieces of it were washed to the country of several Dhuwa clans. The head, wanda, ended up at Wandawuy in Djäpu country. Mäna himself also travelled to Wandawuy, and to Dhurruputjpi, another site in Djapu country. At these places, Mäna was changed to a Djapu man and said, ‘this country will always belong to Djapu people’. Spring water gushed from the ground where it was struck by the sharks tail. In Djäpu country, Mäna changed himself into a white gum tree when the billabongs - flooded during the wet season - dried up. These white gums can still be seen around his sites.SignificanceGuykuḏa Munuŋgurr has a unique take on creating works and steers away from traditional stories, techniques and Minitji to represent his works. This work is significant in showing the artist is not bound to one way of seeing or thinking. It is another level again of expression outside the normal traditions of Yolŋu.

Guykuḏa is interested in form and seeks only to express the shapes he sees in his life as a hunter/artist/Yolŋu living at his coastal homeland of Garrthalala. But sometimes he makes things that are drawn completely from his imagination.