kids encyclopedia robot

Marrnyula Mununggurr facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Marrnyula Mununggurr
Born (1964-07-05) 5 July 1964 (age 60)
Yirrkala
Nationality Australian
Other names Watjumi, Mititjpurr, Munuŋgurr
Known for Bark painting, printmaking
Parents
Relatives Rerrkirrwanga Mununggurr (sister)
Family Djapu’ clan
Marrnyula Mununggurr at Binydjarrŋa (Daliwuy Bay), December 2018
Marrnyula Mununggurr at Binydjarrŋa (Daliwuy Bay), December 2018.

Marrnyula Mununggurr, born in 1964, is an amazing Aboriginal Australian artist. She is part of the Djapu clan of the Yolngu people. Marrnyula is famous for her art using natural colors called ochres on bark and hollow logs. She also creates beautiful wood carvings and different types of prints, like linoleum and screen prints.

Marrnyula Mununggurr's Life Story

Marrnyula Mununggurr was born in North East Arnhem Land. Her parents, Djutadjuta Mununggurr and Nonggirrnga Marawili, were both well-known artists. Marrnyula grew up in Wäṉḏawuy, her family's homeland. This is where she first started her journey as an artist.

Wäṉḏawuy is a special place for the Djapu' people. It is an inland area with fresh water. The Mäṉa (shark) is an important animal, or totem, for her family. Marrnyula helped raise her three nieces and nephews after her brother passed away.

Marrnyula's grandfathers were also important artists. Her father's father was Wonggu Mununggurr, a leader and artist of the Djapu clan. Her mother's father was Mundukul Marawili, a leader and artist of the Madarrpa people.

Marrnyula Mununggurr's Art Career

Marrnyula first wanted to be a teacher. She studied at Batchelor and taught in Wandawuy. But she didn't want to travel a lot, so she looked for another job.

Since the 1980s, Marrnyula has worked at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, Arnhem Land. This center is a famous art place. From 1995 to 2011, she was the main printmaker, trainer, and manager at the Yirrkala Print Space. She learned a lot from a master printmaker named Basil Hall.

Before working at the center, Marrnyula helped her parents with their artworks. Her father taught her how to get bark ready and paint her clan's special designs. She also taught school children about the Djapu' clan designs. Marrnyula and her mother often helped her father with his bark paintings. One of these, Djapu’–Gälpu Ties, is now in an exhibit called Madayin. Her father won an award for Best Bark Painting in 1997.

Marrnyula is special because bark painting was mostly done by men in the past. She is one of the few women who creates these paintings. She keeps the old traditions and designs of her people alive. For example, in her work Djapu (2013), she uses ideas and methods from her father and grandfather's paintings. Her father encouraged her to paint Djapu' designs from a young age. He gave her a hairbrush, white clay, and bark to start her art career.

Marrnyula has worked with her mother, Nonggirrnga Marawili, on paintings of the Djapu clan design. These were shown in a gallery in 2007.

Her art has been in big shows, like "Making it New: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney in 2009. Her bark painting Love me Safely was part of a national exhibit in Canberra from 1994 to 1995. Since then, Marrnyula has used her art to help raise awareness about diseases affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Marrnyula was one of five artists from Arnhem Land chosen for the Djalkiri: We are Standing on their names: Blue Mud Bay project (2009-2010). This project celebrated the Yolngu people through art, song, and dance. Marrnyula painted her mother’s design of the sailing cloth, which is important to the Blue Mud Bay area.

In 2015, she had an exhibit called Ganybu in Melbourne. It showed 252 small bark paintings. The patterns on these paintings show a fishtrap that caught Mäṉa (the ancestral shark). They also show the billabongs and ridges of her homeland, Wäṉḏawuy. The National Gallery of Victoria bought this artwork. In 2019, Marrnyula made another large artwork with 297 small bark paintings for the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. It was shown at the 2019 Tarnanthi festival.

Marrnyula also cares deeply about climate change. She helps spread awareness through her art, like in her exhibit Zero Metres Above Sea Level in Sydney. Her work helps scientists study how climate change affects communities.

She is still a respected printmaker at Yirrkala Printspace. Her art has been shown in many important galleries.

Marrnyula Mununggurr's Art Style

Marrnyula's print works often have detailed cross-hatching patterns on bark. These patterns show the freshwaters and rivers of her homeland. They also represent fish traps woven by women to catch fish.

As Marrnyula got older, moving around became harder. So, she started making art installations with many small bark paintings put together. She calls them "puzzle work paintings." She made her first one from small pieces of bark left by other artists. Since her Ganybu exhibit in 2015, Marrnyula has been known for these creative installations. Each small bark painting shows her clan's design: the fish trap that caught Mäna (the ancestral shark) at Wändawuy. The spaces between the small barks on the wall also form a grid, like the fish trap seen by freshwater fish. Marrnyula says that these smaller bark paintings are her own idea. She is creating her unique style in a field that used to be mostly for men.

Besides her puzzle work, she also paints larrakitj (hollow logs). She uses designs she learned from her grandfather, Wonggu Mununggurr. She keeps her clan's designs true to tradition, but she also makes her works unique from other artists.

Marrnyula's art often shows her deep respect for spirits and traditions. These themes help explain how important the land is to her community. She often gets ideas from her clan's totem, the Mäṉa, or ancestral sharks. The journeys of these sharks connect different clans. You can see these designs in her puzzle work paintings and her hollow log paintings. In 2014-2015, she worked on a larrakitj installation also called Ganybu. In this work, the lines show the fish trap in the shark's songline. The diagonal lines show the water, which is important to the Djapu’ soul. Eucalyptus shavings were placed on the floor where this art was shown to make people feel like they were in Wäṉḏawuy.

Madayin Exhibit

One of Marrnyula's famous puzzle work paintings is part of "Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala." This exhibit was created to show new audiences the special art of Yirrkala. It includes many songlines, like the Mäṉa songline.

The Mäṉa is a songline that connects many Dhuwa songlines. Marrnyula's piece, Djapu’ Clan Design, shows the end of Mäṉa's journey at Wäṉḏawuy, Marrnyula's homeland. In the story, the shark ancestor sees hunters from the Gupa-Djapu’ clan poisoning fish. The hunters tried to catch Mäṉa with a woven fish trap, but he broke free. The force of this created a bend in the river.

Djapu’ Clan Design is a very large artwork made of 299 smaller bark paintings. These smaller paintings form a big grid, and each one shows a grid design, like the fish trap in the story. In this piece, white clay designs show freshwater, and black designs in the middle show muddy water from the shark moving around. You can see the shark escaping near the top left of the painting. The river from the songlines is painted on young boys for their special ceremonies and on older men who are ready to retire. The grid designs in this artwork are her ceremonial designs. She uses a special cross-hatching technique to make the water look shimmery.

'Living by the Sea' is another painting about the sea. It tells a story about hunters getting ready to find turtle eggs. Others are fishing with spears and collecting crabs and bait. This painting is all about the sea and the two main groups of people, Yirritja and Dhuwa.

Awards and Recognition

Marrnyula Mununggurr has won several awards for her amazing artwork:

Important Art Exhibitions

Marrnyula's art has been shown in many important exhibitions:

Art Collections

Marrnyula Mununggurr's artworks are kept in many important collections around the world, including:

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Marrnyula Mununggurr Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.