Title
Oysters growing on rocks at Guruwana
circa 1960
Artist
Djimbarrdjimbarrwuy Garawirrtja
Australia
1932 – 1981
Language groups: Gupapuyngu, Arnhem region, Birrkili, Arnhem region
-
Details
- Other Title
- Oysters growing on rocks
- Place where the work was made
-
Milingimbi
→
Central Arnhem Land
→
Northern Territory
→
Australia
- Date
- circa 1960
- Media category
- Bark painting
- Materials used
- natural pigments on bark
- Dimensions
- 59.0 x 28.0 cm (irreg.)
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of Dr Stuart Scougall 1960
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- IA52.1960
- Copyright
- © Estate of Djimbarrdjimbarrwuy Garawirrtja/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
-
Djimbarrdjimbarrwuy Garawirrtja
Works in the collection
- Share
-
About
Djimbarrdjimbarrwuy gives brilliant form to the conditions found at particular places in country at certain times of the day. In 'Oysters growing on rocks at Guruwana' c1960 he depicts an important location on the mainland near Elcho Island, where oysters are found. The central form in the work alludes to a rock formation under the water, to which dead, broken, empty and full oyster shells are attached, their various states indicated by the differing colours and infill techniques. This tidal country is surrounded by mud, as indicated by the yellow bands that run horizontally across the work. In the related work 'Guruwana – a sacred place' c1959, Djimbarrdjimbarrwuy provides the additional element of a band of cross-hatching within the segment of mud to indicate the presence of rocks that are covered and uncovered by saltwater as the tides rise and fall.
-
Places
Where the work was made
Milingimbi
-
Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1960, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Mar 1961–23 Apr 1961
One sun, one moon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 03 Jul 2007–02 Dec 2007
Art from Milingimbi: taking memories back, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 12 Nov 2016–29 Jan 2017
-
Bibliography
Referenced in 2 publications
-
Djon Mundine, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘The concept of style in Central Arnhem Land’, pg. 99-104, Sydney, 2007, 98 (colour illus.).
-
Cara Pinchbeck, Art from Milingimbi, ‘Djimbarrdjimbarrwuy’, pg. 86-91, Sydney, 2016, 91 (colour illus.), 135, (colour illus., detail), 141.
-