Kunkurra (Two Wind Dreaming)
$1,055
The artist has painted kunkurra, the spiralling wind associated with several sites in the Kardbam clan estate. On one level, this painting can be interpreted as a depiction of the mini-cyclones common during the wet season in Arnhem Land, where the artist lives. Kunkurra also relates specifically to a site called Bilwoyinj, near Mankorlod, on Namunjdja’s clan estate. At this site, two of the most important Kuninjku creation beings, a father and son, known as the Nakorrkko, hunted and ate a goanna. They left some of the goanna fat behind, which turned into the rock that still stands there today. The word ‘Bilwoyinj’ – the name of this site – also refers to the goanna fat. The Bilwoyinj site is also a ceremonial ground for Yabbadurruwa, a major ceremony owned by the Yirridjdja patrimoiety. The Yabbadurruwa ceremony is primarily concerned with initiation, land ownership and promoting the cyclical regeneration of the human and natural worlds. Source: Hetti Perkins et al., ‘Crossing country: the alchemy of Western Arnhem Land art’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004