Wikipedia

Dhambit Mununggurr

Dhambit Mununggurr (born 1968) is a Yolngu artist of the Gupa-Djapu' clan known for her unique ultramarine blue bark paintings inspired by natural landscapes and Yolngu stories and legends.[1] Her father Mutitjpuy Mununggurr and mother Gulumbu Yunupingu were both celebrated Aboriginal artists, each having won first prizes at the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torress Strait Islander Awards (NATSIAA).[1] After a vehicular accident in 2005, Mununggurr was severely injured, but returned to painting in 2010.[2]

Dhambit Mununggurr
Born1968
NationalityYolngu
Known forBark painting, larrakitj
SpouseTony Gintz

Biography edit

Dhambit Mununggurr was born in 1968 to Mutitjpuy Mununggurr (1932-1993) and Gulumbu Yunupingu (1945–2012).[2] Her father was the first artist to win the award with a bark painting (Djang'kawu) in 1990, and her mother won the award in 2004 for her work Garak, the Universe.[3] Her father was one of the members of the Dhuwa moiety who contributed to the Yirrkala Church Panels (which would lead to the creation of the Yirrkala bark petitions of 1963), and served as a great inspiration for Mununggurr.[2] Not only was her father an inspiration, but her mother, Gulumbu Yunupingu, was equally so; in an interview posted to Youtube in August of 2023 for the exhibition Madayin, Dhambit Mununggurr states that she first began painting in the 1980s "because I've seen my parents painting when I was growing up."[4] Dhambit Mununggurr's first paintings were influenced by her mother's clan, featuring imagery of fire, associated with the Gumatj clan to which her mother belonged.[4] Mununggurr was credited in the Aboriginal filmYolngu Boy (2000).[5][6] In 2004, Mununggurr became the first Yolngu woman to graduate as a tour guide in Yirrkala.[2]

In 2005, Mununggurr was hit by a truck, leaving her needing a wheelchair and unable to use her right hand to paint.[1] Her recovery consisted of a Western treatment and traditional healing practices, and she entered an intensive rehabilitation program in 2011 at Epworth Rehabilitation in Melbourne, Victoria.[1][2] When returning to painting in 2010, she trained herself to paint with her non-dominant left hand with her condition slowly improving.[2] Her favouring of acrylics was an effect of the accident, with NATSIAA curators agreeing she could no longer grind traditional ochres used for bark painting with her limited dexterity in her right hand.[1][5] Beginning in acrylic colors of red, orange, and yellow, reminiscent of natural ochre tones, Mununggurr came to her now famous bright blue acrylic in 2018, while working at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre on a large bark painting for The Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA).[7]

Her work was acquired by Artbank in 2018 in a collection which details Mununggurr's life and her familial ties.[6] At the top, her maternal grandfather Mungurrawuy Yunupingu is pictured, and further down her uncles Galarrwuy and Mandawuy are shown.[6] Her mother, Gulumbu Yunupingu, is represented through the stars which show what she had painted on the ceiling of the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, France. Lastly, Dhambit herself is represented as a monolithic rock on Elcho Island.[6]

In 2020, Mununggurr was represented at the National Gallery of Victoria Triennial with an installation of fifteen bark paintings and nine painted larrakitj (hollow log coffins).[7] Many of her paintings at the exhibition depict stories that had been passed down to her by her parents and Yolngu elders; one of her paintings shows the story of the Makassans—told to Mununggurr by her mother—who traded tobacco with the Yolngu for centuries and fished off the coast of Arnhem Land for sea cucumber, until their fishing was banned by the Australian government in 1907, over fifty years before Mununggurr was born.[8]

Collections edit

Significant exhibitions edit

  • Mirdawarr Dhulan, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (2011)
    • Mununggurr's first solo exhibition was named after her experience driving through remnants of burnt-out forest around King Lake with her partner Tony where she noticed green shoots sprouting from burned trees.[1][2] The title refers to the "land after fire" and the "regrowth after fire."[2]
  • Gaybada - My Father was an Artist, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (2015)
    • Mununggurr's second solo exhibition is inspired by her father Mutitjpuy Mununggurr.[11] It features vibrant bark paintings in larrakitj (hollow poles), and credits her father as the driving force behind her art.[11]
  • Provenance Does Matter - Living with Contemporary Art, Alcaston Gallery at Gallery 369, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia (2016)
  • Can We All Have A Happy Life, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Victoria, Australia (2019-2020)
    • This installation consisted of 15 bark paintings and nine larrakitj.[14] NGV director Tony Ellwood commented on her work saying, "It's a story about coming out of adversity after a severe accident... It's profoundly beautiful."[14]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Dhambit Mununggurr". Artist Profile. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Dhambit Mununggurr". Alcaston Gallery (in Polish). Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Dhambit Munuggurr | Artist Profile, Exhibitions & Artworks". ocula.com. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b Dhambit Munuŋgurr: Maḏayin Artist Profile. Retrieved 3 May 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  5. ^ a b "Dhambit Mununggurr". Salon Art Projects. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d "Artbank Staff Picks: Dhambit Mununggurr My Story II, 2018". Artbank. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Dhambit Mununggurr Can we all have a happy life | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  8. ^ TRIENNIAL CONVERSATIONS | DHAMBIT MUNUNGGURR IN CONVERSATION WITH MYLES RUSSELL-COOK. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  9. ^ "Bänhdharra | Ocean". Kluge-Ruhe: Madayin. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Artists | NGV". National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  11. ^ a b ""Dhambit Mununggurr - Gaybada - My Father was an Artist"". Alcaston Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  12. ^ a b Pedler, Chris (25 June 2016). "Contemporary works arrive at Gallery 369". Bendigo Advertiser. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Provenance Does Matter: Living with Contemporary Art at Gallery 369 Bendigo". Alcaston Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  14. ^ a b "NGV Triennial: a bold and urgent artistic intervention, studded with beauty and calm". the Guardian. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2021.

Further reading edit

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