Before there was any water...
Artist
James IYUNA
Indigenous
Birth:
in
1959
West Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
Artwork
Title
Before there was any water...
Date
1989
Medium/Material
natural ochres on Stringybark, sticks, bush string
Dimensions
264 x 93.5cm (Height x Width x Depth)
Credit line
Purchased 1989
Copyright credit line
Licenced by the Aboriginal Artist Agency Ltd
Accession Number
1989/0213
Currently not on display
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Curatorial insightBefore there was any water created, the world was like a desert. This painting is about a site known as Ngandaryu in Rocky Cave Country. All the bones (called mornu) are from dead Binnin (black human beings) as they searched around for water. They were looking around inside the cave and rock – gururr or guwati. Gundangi, the footprints of these people, are shown walking around. The artist’s father, Anchor Galunba, was a ‘clever man’ who passed this story onto his son. (Croft, Indigenous Art: Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2001)
Vernon id: 4397