- Title: Birrkuda
- Artist: Mulkun Wirrpanda
- Region: Arnhem Land
- Art Centre: Buku Larrnggay Mulka
- Medium: Etching & Screenprint
- Collection: Djalkiri Folio
- Dimensions: 50 x 38 cm
- Edition Size: 40
- Price ($AUD): $ 650
Artwork Story
This is Yirritja honey. We call Birrkuda, Gawarratja wanga, (place). This painting is from my mother’s clan her miny’tji (design). I am looking after this design for her because she has passed way now. My bothers Dhukal and Wuyall and me look after this for her. We look after this land and the miny’tji for all her grandchildren as well.
In country that edges into Dhudi Djapu clan land on this estate is country associated with Dhalwangu clan lore. It is a Honey site of Ancestral times sung by the Yirritja. Icons of the sugar bag; a manifestation of this deep-seated knowledge is depicted. The events that took place here give the Dhalwangu and associates spiritual rites of country.
This image shows the honey at the place known as Gawarratja belonging to the clan of Mandawuy Yunupingu’s mother-in-law who recently deceased leaving her sister as the only surviving member of this clan. Their clan was decimated by a massacre in the early 1900’s, which is retailed in the Yothu Yindi CD Birrkuda. The sensitivities of this history have meant that this design is not often reproduced. In this instance this elderly Dhudi-Djapu woman has painted her mother’s pattern.
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