Title
Wurrpan (emu)
circa 1950s
Artist
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Details
- Alternative title
- Totemic emblem (Emu)
- Place where the work was made
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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 paperbark, vegetable fibre string, beeswax, featherspainted decoration
- Dimensions
- 52.0 x 10.0 x 10.0 cm 70.5 x 10.0 x 10.0 cm including stand
- Credit
- Purchased 1962
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- IA25.1962
- Copyright
- © Estate of Buranday Waynbarrnga/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Buranday Waynbarrnga
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
The spirited work 'Wurrpan (emu)' c1950s showcases Buranday’s skill with three-dimensional forms. Constructed from paperbark bound with handmade string it eloquently captures the character of an emu and is held by the dancer personifying the emu within the Wurrpan ceremony. Binyinyuwuy danced with such a sculpture at a Wurrpan ceremony in Milingimbi in the 1960s, as recorded by Alan Fidock, with Dawidi his hunter.
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Places
Where the work was made
Central Arnhem Land
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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
The Lady and the Unicorn, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Feb 2018–24 Jun 2018
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Bibliography
Referenced in 9 publications
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Edmund Capon AM, OBE and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'Tribal Galleries', pg. 42-47, Sydney, 1984, 44 (colour illus.).
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Jonathan Cooper (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales Bulletin, 'Yiribana Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Gallery', pg. 6-9, Sydney, Apr 1995-May 1995, 9 (colour illus.).
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Jonathan Cooper (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales Bulletin, Sydney, Oct 1994-Nov 1994, 36 (colour illus.).
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John Mundine and Renée Porter, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Aboriginal and Melanesian', pg. 57-71, Sydney, 1988, 63 (colour illus.).
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Margo Neale, Yiribana, Sydney, 1994, 15 (colour illus.).
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Margo Neale, Yiribana: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collection, Sydney, 1994, 99 (colour illus.), 100, 136, 139. plate no. 47
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Hetti Perkins and Ken Watson, A material thing - objects from the collection, Sydney, 1999, 3, 4 (colour illus.).
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Cara Pinchbeck, Art from Milingimbi, ‘Buranday’, pg. 60-63, Sydney, 2016, 62 (colour illus.), 140.
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Margie West, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘Woven meaning: The continuity of Aboriginal fibre art’, pg. 271-275, Sydney, 2007, 270 (colour illus.).
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