Marrakulu at the Goyder River
1997
"Stringy" eucalyptus bark has been flattened out to form a canvas. In keeping with patterns long established in northern Australia, the artist uses only natural pigments to construct a landscape. Linear striations and dotted subdivisions activate the surface with a crowded patterning that is able to imbue the painting with a visual brilliance and ritual significance.
The Marrakulu clan considers the lagoon that empties into the Blue Mud Bay to be a special area of fertility, a reservoir for their sacred ancestral beings. Down the center, a goanna swims through a spring fed waterhole while holding a mussel (known as a forbidden fruit) in its mouth. Small fish swim on either side and palm trees surround the site where two ancestral sisters visited and sanctified the lagoon as a site belonging to the Marrakulu.
Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
92 1/2 x 37 in. (235 x 94 cm)
Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan
2000.158
Provenance: [Buku-Larrngay Arts (community arts center), 1998]; purchased from arts center by Robert Kaplan and Margaret Levi, Seattle, 1998; gift from Mr. Kaplan and Dr. Levi to Seattle Art Museum, December 2000
