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Collection

An image of Limmen Bight River Country by Ginger Riley Munduwalawala

Ginger Riley Munduwalawala

(Australia circa 1936–01 Sep 2002)

Language group
Marra, Gulf region
Title
Limmen Bight River Country
Other titles:
Untitled
Place of origin
Northern Territory → Australia
Year
1992
Media category
Painting
Materials used
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Dimensions

243.5 x 243.5 x 3.7cm stretcher

Signature & date
Signed l.l. corner , red synthetic polymer paint "GINGER RILEY". Not dated.
Credit
Mollie Gowing Acquisition Fund for Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1992
Accession number
291.1992
Copyright
© Estate Ginger Riley Munduwalawala, Courtesy of Alcaston Gallery
Location
Not on display
Further information

Traditional in subject matter and experimental in style, the paintings of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala are impressive pictorial presences, not least because of their scale and dramatic colour schemes. As an elder of his community, the artist is entrusted with the preservation of aspects of the stories of his mother's people at Four Arches, 45 kilometres inland from Limmen Bight in the Gulf of Carpentaria.Limmen Bight country is the landscape depicted in this stately retelling of the story of the first being, a kangaroo, shown in solitary grandeur at the bottom of Riley's successively layered composition. In order to populate the world, it was the task of this being to find himself a mate. Garimala, an ancestral snake, recommended he seek out a young girl, a quest which leads the kangaroo into many deprivations and dangers. The near-fatal spearing shown in the second register was probably in punishment for his trespass on the territory of another clan. The hump-like landforms which characterise the work, and Limmen Bight itself, are believed to have resulted from the writhings of the great serpents whose appearance in this painting, and elsewhere in Aboriginal art, is significantly hieratic.

[AGNSW Handbook 1999]

Bibliography (9)

Edmund Capon, Art Gallery of New South Wales: highlights from the collection, Sydney, 2008, 40, 41 (colour illus.).

Jonathan Cooper (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales Bulletin Apr 1995-May 1995, 'Yiribana Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Gallery', pg. 6-9, Domain, Apr 1995-May 1995, 8 (colour illus.).

Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art', pg. 208-241, Domain, 1999, 233 (colour illus.).

Ewen McDonald (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, 'From Colonialism to late Modernism', pg. 7-106, Sydney, 1994, 104 (colour illus.).

Ewen McDonald (Editor), Biennale of Sydney 2000 2000, Woolloomooloo, 2000. no catalogue numbers

Margo Neale, Yiribana: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collection, Sydney, 1994, 48, 49 (colour illus.), 137, 139. plate no. 21

Hetti Perkins., Contemporary Aboriginal art: The Mollie Gowing acquisition fund, 'Gifted Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Mollie Gowing acquisition fund', Sydney, 2006, (colour illus.). not paginated

Hetti Perkins, Art + soul: a journey into the world of Aboriginal art 2010, 'Bitter + sweet’, pg. 173-265, Carlton, 2010, 242-243 (colour illus.), 244 (colour illus., detail), 282.

Judith Ryan, Look Nov 2002, 'The boss of colour', pg. 16, Newtown, Nov 2002, 16 (colour illus.).

Exhibition history (4)

Gamarada, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1996–16 Feb 1997

ADDING - The Blue Pacific, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Paddington, 01 Aug 1998–29 Aug 1998

Biennale of Sydney 2000:

The Dreamers (2009-10), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 09 May 2009 -