Manggalili Larrakitj
ca. 2001
Galuma Maymuru
Australian Aboriginal, Manggalili clan, Djarrakpi, Northeast Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, born 1951
Yambirrku, the ancestral parrot fish, is speared and eaten. His remains, buried by women on the beach, are soon sustenance for maggots, scavenged by crabs, pecked at by birds, and eventually no trace remains. At the top of the log, terns weave among the clouds, which are referred to in song as "large feminine shapes glowing in the evening light."
Galuma Maymuru is the daughter of one of the best known artists of Northern Australia. She was one of the first women allowed to paint sacred clan designs that had previously been the domain of high-ranking men.
Earth pigments on hollow log
Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
2005.150
Provenance: [Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts Centre, Yirrkala, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2001
Photo: Susan Cole
