Wanyubi Marika / Rirratjingu people / Australia b.1967 / Mumutthun (Paddle splash) 2006 / Natural pigments on bark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) / 150.9 x 60cm / Purchased 2007. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Wanyubi Marika

Wanyubi Marika
Mumutthun (Paddle splash) 2006

Not Currently on Display

Mumutthun (Paddle splash) 2006 is a finely drawn bark painting using the rarrk (crosshatching) technique to tell a dreaming story of the travels of the Djang’kawu creators across Arnhem Land.

The story tells of the time when the ancestral sisters and their brother saw wularr, a significant cloud, at Yalangbara on the mainland, and they set out in their canoe, using their djota (digging sticks) as paddles.

The top and bottom panels of the bark painting describe their journey by starlight before the dawn. These panels use the rarely seen miny’tji (sacred clan designs), which depict this event together with the light on the surface of the sea. The middle panel shows the turbulence of the water, the swirling current and the wake of the canoe, while the central void is the space left in the water after withdrawing their paddles.

Wanyubi Marika comes from Yirrkala, an Indigenous community in north-eastern Arnhem Land. When he was a young boy, Wanyubi observed his father, Milirrpum, and other family members making art.

He learnt to paint and, in time, he also learnt the dreaming stories of his country. He first exhibited in 1999 in an exhibition that sought to bring attention to the recognition of native title in saltwater estates in Arnhem Land.

He has also exhibited with other well-known artists from Yirrkala, including Djambawa Marawili and Galuma Maymuru, in ‘Buwayak: Invisibility’ at Annandale Galleries, Sydney, in 2003.

Discussion Questions

1. How does the rarrk patterning affect what we see?

2. Why would the artist want to disguise the subjects of his paintings?

Classroom Activities

Draw an image of an object which is important to you. Incorporate patterns into your drawing until the object is almost unrecognisable.