Barayuwa Munuŋgurr
Yirrkala, NT
Ancestors of Barayuwa Munuŋgurr's clan killed their brother, the Whale Mirinyuŋu, and butchered it. They threw their stone knives into the sea and these became the reef Garapana. The Octopus ?arrpiya guards the reef. Within this design are the knives, limbs and bones of the whale on the beach made sacred with the essence of Mirinyuŋu.
About the Artist
Born in 1980 at Wandawuy outstation near Caledon Bay, Yirrkala, Barayuwa Munu?gurr is an artist of the Djapu clan. He spent a long time as a sta? member of Buku-Larr?gay Mulka Centre, the community-controlled art centre in Yirrkala, providing great assistance to all the artists of the community. Partly through helping other artists, Barayuwa has developed a ?ne hand and has now become an established artist in his own right. He paints both his own Djapu clan designs as well as his mother�s Munyuku clan designs. His mother is recently deceased Be?gitj ?urruwutthun, a sister to the great Dula, who was a renowned ceremonial expert and painter.
Barayuwa was included in Primavera 2014, the Museum of Contemporary Art�s prestigious annual exhibition of outstanding young artists. His work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the University of Western Australia and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. In 2021, he was included in the ground-breaking exhibition Murr?iny � a story of metal from the east at the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art in partnership with Salon Art Projects. He has been shortlisted in the annual Telstra NATSIAA six times.
