Title
Murayana (spirit) looking for guku (honey)
circa 1950s
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- Carved figure
- Place where the work was made
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Milingimbi
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Central Arnhem Land
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Northern Territory
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Australia
- Date
- circa 1950s
- Media category
- Sculpture
- Materials used
- natural pigments on wood
- Dimensions
- 50.5 x 10.6 x 3.8 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1962
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- IA70.1962
- Copyright
- © Estate of Jimmy Lipundja/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Jimmy Lipundja
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
This diminutive sculpture in flattened form is expertly carved from a single piece of timber. Its elongated arms, straightened torso and graphic facial features provide an image of stylised refinement. The controlled symmetry of the work is broken only by slight aberrations – one ear higher than the other, one arm longer and one hand featuring a stroke to give the indication of thumb and fingers.
In looking for honey this figure is swatting bees and placing the design on his chest; the design shows both the sting and swat marks. The positioning of this design on the chest and thighs of the figure echoes the positioning used when it is painted on the body as a central feature of the age-grading Birrkulda ceremony.
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Places
Where the work was made
Milingimbi
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Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
A material thing - Objects from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 31 Aug 1998–09 Feb 1999
Art from Milingimbi: taking memories back, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 12 Nov 2016–29 Jan 2017
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 2 publications
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Hetti Perkins and Ken Watson, A material thing - objects from the collection, Sydney, 1999.
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Cara Pinchbeck, Art from Milingimbi, ‘Lipundja’, pg. 94-101, Sydney, 2016, 97 (colour illus.), 141.
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