Title
Lany'tjung & Barama proclaim the Sacred Law
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- Laintjun and Barama
- Place where the work was made
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Yirrkala
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North-east Arnhem Land
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Northern Territory
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Australia
- Media category
- Bark painting
- Materials used
- natural pigments on bark
- Dimensions
- 84.0 x 35.0 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of Harry Messel 1989
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 61.1989
- Artist information
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Birrikidji Gumana
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
An ancestral spirit, Laintjun and his son, Barama, emerged from a sacred waterhole and proclaimed many ceremonial secrets to the first Aboriginal people of the world, including the diamond pattern body design, which represents the water of the sacred well. Here we see Laintjun and Barama explaining how to carve certain high-secret wooden symbols depicting the fresh water snake and fresh water turtle. Instead of the actual symbol the artist has here depicted the creatures they represent. The sacred diamond pattern is shown and at the top of the painting we see two water birds chasing a fresh water crayfish in the sacred billabong.
Harry Messel
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Places
Where the work was made
Yirrkala
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Exhibition history
Shown in 1 exhibition
Gamarada, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1996–16 Feb 1997
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Edmund Capon AM, OBE, Steven Miller, Tony Tuckson, James Scougall, Mollie Gowing, Harry Messel, Craig Brush, Ronald Fine, Alison Fine, Gordon Davies, Rosalind Davies, Christopher Hodges, Helen Eager, Rosemary Gow, Sandra Phillips, Daphne Wallace and Ken Watson, Gamarada, Sydney, 1996, 55 (colour illus.).
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