Dhaḻwaŋu Rom

Label

Each pattern in this painting represents a different body of water belonging to the Dhaḻwaŋu clan. At the top, tight rows of diamonds refer to the sacred freshwaters of Gulutji, from which Barama emerged to deliver Yirritja Law. At the base, the zig-zag lines signify the rolling waves of the saltwater estate of Garrapara. In the central section, Waturr has depicted the site where the floodplain of Baraltja flows into the bay. This area does not belong to the Dhaḻwaŋu, but to the Djarrwarrk clan of the Dhuwa moiety, who relate to the Dhaḻwaŋu as yothu-yindi (mother and child). In using the clan designs of both Dhaḻwaŋu and Djarrwarrk clans to depict this site where fresh and saltwater mixes, Waturr draws attention to the complementary interdependence of the two moieties.

From the 2022 exhibition Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala, curated by Mr. W. Waṉambi; Djambawa Marawili AM; Wäka Munuŋgurr; Yinimala Gumana; Henry Skerritt; and Kade McDonald

Course History

WRIT 5, Indigenous Knowledge and Development, Kenneth Bauer, Winter 2013

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

WRIT 5, Nature and Imagination: The Meanings of Place, William Nichols, Fall 2012

SART 29, Photography I, Brian Miller, Fall 2012

SART 30, Photography II, Brian Miller, Fall 2012

SART 25, Painting I, Esme Thompson, Fall 2012

SART 25, Painting I, Enrico Riley, Fall 2012

ANTH 30, Hunters and Gatherers, Nathaniel Dominy, Fall 2012

THEA 28, Dance Composition, Ford Evans, Fall 2012

SART 15, Drawing I, Gerald Auten, Fall 2012

SART 20, SART 71, Drawing II, Drawing III, Colleen Randall, Fall 2012

NAS 42, Gender Issues in Native American Life, Vera Palmer, Fall 2012

SART 27, SART 28, Printmaking I and II, Tricia Treacy, Fall 2020

ANTH 27.01, Economic Anthropology, Maron Greenleaf, Fall 2022

ANTH 31.01/WGSS 36.01, Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives, Sabrina Billings, Fall 2022

ENVS 85.01/NAIS 81.04, Land, Love, and Kinship, Nicholas Reo, Fall 2022

GEOG 11.01, Qualitative Methods, Abigail Neely, Fall 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Fall 2022

NAIS 25.01, Indian Country Today, N. Bruce Duthu, Fall 2022

SART 27.01, Printmaking I, Tricia Treacy, Fall 2022

Exhibition History

Crossing Cultures: The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 15, 2012-March 10, 2013; Toledo Museum of Art, April 11-July 14, 2013.

Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Paintings from Yirrkala, Henry Skerritt and Jami Powell, September 3 - December 4, 2022, Luise and Morton Kaish Gallery, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Citrin Family Gallery, Northeast Gallery, Engles Family Gallery, Israel Sack Gallery, Rush Family Gallery, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Publication History

Stephen Gilchrist, editor, Crossing Cultures, The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2012, p. 76, Fig 7.1; p. 123 no. 9.

Provenance

Buku Larrngay Mulka, Yirrkala, Northern Territory, Australia; sold to Will Owen (1952-2015) and Harvey Wagner (1931-2017), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2004; given to present collection, 2011.

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