Wobulkarra Ḻarrakitj (Wobulkarra Burial Pole)
$2,400.00
“Yaka napurr li ga bawala biḏi’yun. Dhuwal napurruŋ manikaydja. Ŋunhi napurr li ga barkparkthun, napurr ga guyaŋa wäŋaw mala. Yaka napurr dharrwa, yurru dhäwu napurruŋ yindi.”
“We don’t just paint anything. These are our songlines. When we sing, we are thinking of the places. We [Wobulkarra] are not many, but we have a big story.”
This Wobulkarra burial pole represents the artist’s Wobulkarra songline, a songline with a big ceremony. The Yirritja water Guḻarri connects many Yirritja clans as it flows through their country, including the land and sea country of the Wobulkarra. The white rärrk or cross-hatching in this design represents the Guḻarri stream.
The small roundels floating in the stream are warraga or cycad nuts at Marranyaminaŋguḻi. Cycad nuts were an important food which had to be pounded and then leeched of their toxins for days in running water before being made into bread. In the painting, the white warraga are rotten and the brown and yellow warraga are fresh.
The adjacent panels represents a billabong at Ḻaŋarra (Howard Island). In this billabong are nyaŋura (long-necked turtle) and dirrpu (a root food similar to waterlily), which represented here with spots and black leaves. The dirrpu are best harvested in the wet-season, but in the dry season are still good to eat. Some dirrpu have long roots, and some short. Little fish-shaped animals amongst the dirrpu are freshwater prawns known as ḏakawa.
The undulating parallel lines in the panel adjacent to the billabong represent water, salt and fresh.
Available
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