Gunyan, 2025

Gunyan Datjuluma produced this work with reference to her mother’s country at Djarrakpi, which is at the base of Cape Shield, the northern perimeter of Blue Mud Bay. This Maŋgalili country is also the site of one of the Ancestral ceremonial/burial grounds called the Yiŋapuŋapu. The Yiŋapuŋapu is a low-relief sand sculpture designed to keep any contamination of death at bay. Traditionally, the body of the deceased was placed within it for initial mortuary rites to cleanse the bones of dangerous spirits held within the body’s tissue. A metaphor for this act of cleansing is utilised by the Maŋgalili in their sacred paintings, depicting Mirriya or Gunyan, the sand or ghost crab, picking the bones of a fish carcass on the beach. Contemporary Maŋgalili on the beaches of Djarrakpi put their food scraps in one place when at camp – the secular Yiŋupuŋapu. This painting shows the totemic Mirriya, which feeds on the Ancestral remains of the parrot fish Yambirrku. The miny’tji, or sacred clan design, for the sandscapes of Djarrakpi both adorns and surrounds the crabs. In the traditional mortuary ceremony for this clan, the last act is to catch and eat Yambirrku and dispose of the bones in the ceremonial sand sculpture for the crabs to pick clean overnight. So a canoe and paddles were made and their journey began by paddling down the Milŋiyawuy River, which flows into the Blue Mud Bay near Djarrakpi. In the bay, at a place of significance, strong winds developed and a wake from the ancestral turtle capsized the canoe. The men drowned. At this place is the site of Yiŋalpiya, the freshwater crocodile’s nesting place. This same place is the spirit source for the Maŋgalili people.

Datjuluma lives and works in Gunyangara (Ski Beach) in North East Arnhem Land. She is married to Djawa Yunupingu, senior Gumatj clan leader and younger brother of Galarrwuy Yunupiŋu, one of the most senior Gumatj Clan leaders. Datjuluma’s father, Waratjima Guyula, was part of a small number of Djambarrpuyŋu clan members who lived around Yirrkala while most of this large clan are based in Western Yolŋu country. There is an ancient sacred connection between this clan and the Rirratjiŋu landowners of Yirrkala stemming from a shared songline, Djarrak – the sea tern. Her mother, Naminapu Maymuru, is a well-known Maŋgalili artist famous for her paintings of the Milŋiyawuy (Milky Way) and her more classical Maŋgalili bark paintings. Naminapu and her family were part of the thriving artists’ school that developed around her grandfathers, Narritjin and Nanyin Maymuru. Datjuluma is following in the artistic footsteps of both her parents and is forming a strong visual identity as a powerful artist in her own right.