John Bulunbulun

Body design – wind 2002

In annual rituals natural pigments are still used to create elaborate clan designs on boys’ bodies during their initiation into manhood, clearly seen in John Bulunbulun’s Body design – wind 2002 a small bark tied to the scale of a man’s chest and shoulders. Amongst multiple references encoded in the abstract symbols are the triangular shapes and vertical lines of dots that stand for lunggurruma ─ the north-west wind, clouds and weather patterns that signal centuries of contact between Yolngu and Macassan traders from Sulawesi in Indonesia. The colours used: galatjal (black), gamanungku (white), miku (red) and buthalak (yellow) indicate that the artist is of the Yirritja moiety and that this is his special design.