Manggalili Larrakitj

Dateca. 2001

Maker Galuma Maymuru Australian Aboriginal, Manggalili clan, Djarrakpi, Northeast Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, born 1951

Label TextYambirrku, 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.

Object number2005.150

Provenance[Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts Centre, Yirrkala, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2001

Photo CreditPhoto: Susan Cole

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Sorry Business, July 30, 2001 - January 2, 2006Published ReferencesSeattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures, London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 36, illus. p. 37 Ishikawa, Chiyo, ed. "A Community of Collectors: 75th Anniversary Gifts to the Seattle Art Museum." Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 2007, illus. p. 86

Credit LineGift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

Dimensions83 1/16 in. (211 cm)

MediumEarth pigments on hollow log