Footnotes

• PROVENANCE:
  Painted at Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) in the early 1970s
  Aboriginal Art Pty Ltd, Harrington St, The Rocks, Sydney
  Private collection, Tokyo
  
  Cf. In the early 1970s the renowned painter and Kuninjku ritual leader Yirawala (c.1895-1976) painted a series of seven barks depicting the story of Luma Luma. These were collected by Sandra Le Brun Holmes and are now in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. See Sandra Le Brun Holmes, Yirawala: Painter of the Dreaming, Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1994, pls.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The National Collection also contains a series of eleven erotic bark paintings, The story of Nimbuwah Rock, by Bobby Ngainjmirra from 1958.
  
  Bobby Barrdjarray Ngainjmirra was the leading member of the Ngainjmirra artistic dynasty of western Arnhem Land that included his brothers Jimmy Nakkuridjdjilmi Ngainjmirra (c.1917-1982) and Peter Ngainjmirra (1927-1987), and his nephew Robin Ngainjmirra (1951-1991). Bobby's senior ritual position and his depth of knowledge of Kunwinjku culture attracted the interest of a number of prominent anthropologists, collectors and researchers. His status gave him the rights to paint the major ancestral narratives of the Kunwinjku.
  
  The chronicle of the giant Luma Luma is one of the apical creation dramas of Kunwinjku and Kuninjku peoples of western Arnhem Land for it relates to the coming of sacred power, Mardayin, and the establishment of ritual practices and initiations, such as the Kunapipi, Wubarr, and eventually the Lorrkon burial ceremonies. Luma Luma also introduced the ritual paraphernalia and the sacred clan patterns that are painted onto these objects and onto the torsos of the ceremonial participants, as well as onto sheets of bark today.
  
  There exist a number of local variations of the story of Luma Luma. Originally, he is said to have had the form of a sea creature or whale. Luma Luma came to the lands of the Kunwinjku and Kuninjku from far to the east with his two wives (in some versions there are more wives and they also are accompanied by their children). Also, he is accompanied by Ngalyod the Rainbow Serpent who has the ability to burrow through the earth and then emerge to create sacred sites. Luma Luma carried with him a stone axe, a spear and a power bag (a woven dilly bag containing sacred objects). Wherever he travelled, Luma Luma claimed the country and established the laws which governed the first peoples. He taught people to perform sacred rituals and showed them the sacred objects that were the source of his power.
  
  Luma Luma instilled fear in the first peoples, as his absolute authority was coupled with a degree of greed which was to be his downfall. Whatever foods his wives collected and cooked, he would declare to be taboo, thus they were prohibited from eating these. He would do the same with the game caught by the men. And while the men were away on their hunting expeditions, he would sleep with their wives. While Lumah Lumah prospered, the others starved. Some of the husbands sought retribution but were no match for Luma Luma.
  
  Eventually the ancestors of the Kunwinjku and Kuninjku decided to take their revenge on the giant. They laid a trap and the giant was engulfed by fire. As he burned, the clansmen peppered his body with spears. Yet Luma Luma begged to be spared so that he could show the men how to draw the sacred rarrk or ancestral clan cross-hatched designs by cutting them into his flesh. Once his task was complete, Luma Luma retreated to the sea from whence he came and transformed himself back into the form of a sea creature.
  
  Wally Caruana
  
  This lot is sold with extensive descriptive documentation.

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Category: Fine Art / Aboriginal Art

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