Muŋurru - Maŋgalili Story - Bandarr Wirrpanda

This series of artworks showcases a significant shift in the artistic practices of men in the North-Eastern Arnhem region. This series of works reflects an important shift in artistic practice among men in North-Eastern Arnhem Land, led by the innovative artist Gunybi Ganambarr. With permission from Elders, Ganambarr began incorporating discarded materials such as metal and rubber found in the landscape, challenging the traditional reliance on natural materials. He argued that even non-Yolŋu waste left to decay on Country becomes part of the land. The engraving of sacred clan designs onto these materials expanded customary production protocols while also addressing environmental concerns.
The works also acknowledge the long history of Macassan trade along the northern Australian coastline prior to colonisation. For centuries Macassan sailors visited Arnhem Land to harvest trepang, exchanging goods such as tobacco, cloth and metal tools. These metal objects, known locally as Murrŋiny (steel), became important trade items and are referenced through the materials used in this body of work.
The imagery relates to the Maŋgalili clan story of Djarrakpi, a sacred site on Blue Mud Bay. In ancestral times the Guwak (Koel Cuckoo) men travelled from this place by canoe and, after their death at sea, became stars in the night sky. Djarrakpi remains the spiritual source for Maŋgalili people, connected to the Milky Way through ancestral narratives and ceremonial knowledge. Elements within the paintings reference this landscape and the sacred stories associated with it, including the Guwak ancestors, the possum Marrŋu and other ancestral beings connected to the land and sea.