Dhambit Mununggurr facts for kids

Dhambit Mununggurr (born 1968) is a famous Yolngu artist from Australia. She is known for her special bark paintings and hollow poles called larrakitj. Her art often uses a bright, deep blue color called ultramarine. This color is unusual for traditional Aboriginal art, which makes her work stand out.

In 2005, Dhambit had an accident that changed her life and her art. She was hit by a truck and needed a wheelchair. For five years, she couldn't paint. This accident also made it hard for her to use her right hand.

Growing Up

Dhambit Mununggurr was born in 1968. Her parents, Mutitjpuy Munungurr and Gulumbu Yunupingu, were both very talented artists. They won important art awards in Australia.

Dhambit's father was one of the artists who helped create the Yirrkala Church Panels. These panels were important artworks that led to the Yirrkala bark petitions in 1963, which were a way for the Yolngu people to speak up for their land rights. Her parents were a big inspiration for Dhambit. She said she started painting in the 1980s because she saw them painting when she was a child.

Her Art Career

Dhambit's first paintings were inspired by her mother's family. They showed images of fire, which was important to her mother's clan.

She was also an artist for the 2000 film Yolngu Boy.

Overcoming Challenges

After her accident in 2005, Dhambit had to learn to paint again. She trained herself to use her left hand because her right hand was injured. This was a big change for her.

The accident also affected the materials she could use. Traditional bark paintings often use natural colors called ochres, which need to be ground up. Because of her injury, Dhambit found it easier to use acrylic paints.

At first, she used acrylic colors like red, orange, and yellow, which looked like natural ochres. But in 2019, she started using the bright blue acrylic paint that she is now famous for. This blue color is a unique part of her artistic style.

Unique Style

Dhambit Mununggurr is known for being very individual in her art. She often uses different materials and styles than traditional Indigenous Australian artists. This makes her work special and easily recognizable.

Besides bark paintings, Dhambit also creates larrakitj, which are hollow poles. These poles also feature her signature blue colors.

In 2015, an art show called "GAYBADA – My Father Was an Artist" featured Dhambit's work. It showed how much her father's art inspired her own paintings and larrakitj. In 2018, she created a large bark painting for the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA).

Other Activities

In 2004, Dhambit Mununggurr became the first Yolngu woman to finish training as a tour guide in Yirrkala.

Her late brother and her uncle, Mandawuy Yunupingu, were founders of the famous Yolngu music group, Yothu Yindi. Her brother was also a well-known player of the didgeridoo.

Art Collections

Dhambit's artwork is held in important art collections. In 2018, Artbank bought a collection of her work that tells the story of her life and family. It shows her maternal grandfather, her uncles, and her mother. Dhambit herself is shown as a large rock on Elcho Island.

Other places that have her art include:

• Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia
• National Gallery of Victoria

Important Art Shows

Dhambit Mununggurr's first solo art show was called Mirdawarr Dhulan in 2011. The name means "land after fire" and "regrowth after fire." It was inspired by seeing new green shoots growing from burnt trees after a bushfire.

In 2020, Dhambit's art was part of a big exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria called the Triennial. She showed fifteen bark paintings and nine painted larrakitj (hollow log coffins). The collection was titled Can We All Have a Happy Life. Many of these paintings told stories passed down from her parents and Yolngu elders.

One painting showed the story of the Makassans, who were traders from Indonesia. They traded with the Yolngu people for hundreds of years, fishing for sea cucumber. This trade stopped in 1907, long before Dhambit was born.

Bark Ladies Exhibition

After the Triennial, Dhambit was invited to another exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2021. This show was called Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala and featured works by women artists.

Dhambit showed many of her paintings with different shades of blue. She described these blues as "water blue, midnight blue, cobalt blue, ultramarine, Australian blue, and Australian sky blue."

A new painting she showed was a portrait of former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. It was called Order and was inspired by Gillard's famous "Misogyny Speech" in 2012. Julia Gillard herself visited the exhibition and said seeing the painting in person was very powerful. She felt it showed the ongoing fight for gender equality.

Other exhibitions of her work include:

• Gaybada - My Father was an Artist, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne (2015); this show featured bright bark paintings and larrakitj inspired by her father, Mutitjpuy Mununggurr.
• Provenance Does Matter - Living with Contemporary Art, Alcaston Gallery at Gallery 369, Bendigo, Victoria (2016); this show included different types of art like photography, video art, paintings, and sculptures.