Dhambit Mununggurr facts for kids
Dhambit Mununggurr (born 1968) is a famous Yolngu artist from Australia. She belongs to the Gupa-Djapu clan. She is best known for her special bark paintings that use a beautiful, bright blue color. Her art is inspired by nature and the stories of her people.
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An Artistic Family
Dhambit Mununggurr was born in 1968. Her parents, Mutitjpuy Munungurr and Gulumbu Yunupingu, were both award-winning artists. Her father was the first artist to win a major art award with a bark painting in 1990. Her mother won the same award in 2004.
Growing up, Dhambit was surrounded by art. She said she started painting in the 1980s because she watched her parents paint every day. They were her biggest inspiration and taught her a lot about art. Her father also helped create the famous Yirrkala Church Panels, which are important works of Yolngu art.
A New Way to Paint
In 2005, Dhambit was in a serious car accident. The accident injured her badly, and afterward, she needed to use a wheelchair. She also could not use her right hand, which she had always used for painting.
After a long recovery, she returned to painting in 2010. She bravely taught herself to paint with her left hand. Because of her injury, it was hard for her to grind traditional paints, called ochres, which are made from clay and rock. So, she started using acrylics instead.
At first, she used colors like red, orange, and yellow that looked like the traditional ochres. But in 2019, she discovered the bright blue color that her art is now famous for.
Career as an Artist
Dhambit Mununggurr's art is very unique. She paints on bark and also on larrakitj, which are hollow log coffins used in traditional ceremonies. All her works show her signature blue colors.
She has a very individual style that is different from many other Aboriginal artists. She uses modern materials like acrylic paint but still tells the traditional stories of her family and the Yolngu people.
In interviews, Dhambit explained that her choice of blue was on purpose. She chose six different shades of blue to tell stories in her own way. These blues include "water blue, midnight blue, cobalt blue, ultramarine, Australian blue, and Australian sky blue."
Even though she is famous for her blue paintings, she paints with many other colors too. Her husband says she has hundreds of paintings stored in a shipping container near her home. She loves to paint all the time, whether the art is for a gallery or just for herself.
One of her artworks was bought by Artbank, a special Australian art collection. The painting tells the story of her family. It shows her grandfather, her uncles, and her mother. Her mother is shown as stars, representing a famous ceiling she painted in a museum in Paris, France. Dhambit represents herself as a large rock on Elcho Island.
Famous Exhibitions
Dhambit has shown her art in many important exhibitions around the world.
Can We All Have a Happy Life
In 2020, she had a big installation at the National Gallery of Victoria. It included fifteen bark paintings and nine painted larrakitj. The artworks told stories passed down from her parents. One painting showed the story of the Makassans, who were traders from Indonesia. They visited her people's land for centuries to trade.
Bark Ladies
In 2021, she was part of another exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria called Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala. It celebrated the work of women artists from her community.
For this show, she painted a portrait of Julia Gillard, a former Prime Minister of Australia. The painting was inspired by a famous speech Gillard gave in 2012. Julia Gillard visited the gallery to see the portrait and said it was very powerful.
Other Exhibitions
- Gaybada - My Father was an Artist (2015): This show at Alcaston Gallery in Melbourne was inspired by her father's art.
- Durrk – I can fly (2021): This exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney included paintings with political themes. One painting showed Yolngu people pushing the Prime Minister out to sea in a canoe. Critics praised her work for its smart and gentle humor.
Other Activities
In 2004, Dhambit became the first Yolngu woman to graduate as a tour guide in her community of Yirrkala.
Her family is also very musical. Her late brother and her uncle, Mandawuy Yunupingu, were founders of the famous Yolngu band, Yothu Yindi. Her brother was a world-famous didgeridoo player.
Collections
Dhambit Mununggurr's art is held in many important collections, including:
- Artbank, Sydney
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, USA
- The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art, Perth
