Anna Wurrkidj (born 1975)

BIRLMU OR NAMARNKORL (BARRAMUNDI), 2002

natural earth pigments with PVC fixative on eucalyptus bark.

41.0 x 94.0 cm (irregular)

bears inscription on label attached verso: artist's name, medium, size, subject, language group and Maningrida Arts and Culture cat. MAW141

Maningrida Arts and Culture, Northern Territory (cat. 1074-02, label attached verso)
Private collection, Melbourne

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Maningrida Arts and Culture, Northern Territory, which states:

‘It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment. Anna Wurrkidj has painted birlmu or namamkorl (Barramundi). During the dry season the barramundi is an important food source for inland Aboriginal people. These fish are caught throughout the artist’s clan estate, either in fishtraps woven from pandanus or sedge grass or else hunted with spears and fishing lines in billabongs and streams where they shelter from the sun under fallen logs or amongst the leaves of water plants.’