Malaluba Gumana (born 1953) is an Australian Aboriginal artist from northeast

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

, who has gained prominence through her work in painting and the production of

larrakitj A memorial pole, also known as hollow log coffin, burial pole, lorrkkon, ḻarrakitj, or ḏupun, is a hollow tree trunk decorated with elaborate designs, made by the Yolngu and Bininj peoples of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of A ...

, the memorial poles traditionally used by Yolngu people in a mortuary ceremony. Her work is held in collection at the National Gallery of Australia and the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

. She has won awards in categories for

bark painting Bark painting is an Australian Aboriginal art form, involving painting on the interior of a strip of tree bark. This is a continuing form of artistic expression in Arnhem Land (especially among the Yolngu peoples) and other regions in the Top ...

and three-dimensional work at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). Her work is represented in the

Kerry Stokes Kerry Matthew Stokes (born John Patrick Alford on 13 September 1940) is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in a diverse range of industries including electronic and print media, property, mining, and construction equipment. ...

Larrakitj Collection, which was exhibited by the Art Gallery of Western Australia and also gained an exhibition place at the Sydney Biennale.

Background

Gumana was born in 1953 and lived in the Gangan homeland of the Blue Mud Bay region in northeast Arnhem Land. She is an artist with Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, an Indigenous community-controlled art centre of northeast Arnhem Land. Her complex and fluid paintings frequently refer to the story of the all-powerful Rainbow Serpent or ''wititj'' (olive python) as it travels through her mother's Gålpu clan lands. She mainly represents the Gålpu clan designs of ''dhatam'' (water lily), ''djari'' (rainbow), ''djayku'' (file snake) and ''wititj'' (olive python), applying the technique of ''marwat'' (cross-hatching) using a finely controlled hair brush. Intellectual property rights of clan designs are held by the clan, and only people with rights to certain designs are able to use them. Gumana is well-known for her production of ''larrakitj'' which the Yolngu people used as bone receptacles in traditional funerary rites. The ''larrakitj'' are made from stringy bark trees that have been hollowed out by termites. The trees are selected and harvested after the dry-season fires and are then smoothed and shaped for painting with

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

s in a cultural process, with each ''larrakitj'' presenting clan-specific designs.

Career

From 2006, Gumana started creating larger and more complex work with the encouragement of her art centre. In 2007, her work was shown for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) at the

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) is the main museum in the Northern Territory. The museum is located in the inner Darwin suburb of Fannie Bay. The MAGNT is governed by the Board of the Museum and Art Gallery of the ...

in Darwin. In 2008, her bark and hollow logs sold out at an exhibition with

Niagara Galleries Niagara Galleries shows contemporary and Modernist Australian art in Richmond, an inner suburb of Melbourne, from a terrace which has been substantially remodelled in a postmodern style. History The gallery was established by Kyneton High Sch ...

, Melbourne, and her ''dhatam'' imagery was selected by the

Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures The Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures (Garma) is Australia's largest Indigenous cultural gathering, taking place over four days each August in northeast Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, Australia. Hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, ...

for T-shirt and promotional material. By 2009, her ''larrakitj'' were part of the

Larrakitj Collection, which exhibited that year at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, and also won an exhibition place in the 17th Sydney Biennale at the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

in 2010. In 2013, she won a NATSIAA award in the category for

Bark Painting Bark painting is an Australian Aboriginal art form, involving painting on the interior of a strip of tree bark. This is a continuing form of artistic expression in Arnhem Land (especially among the Yolngu peoples) and other regions in the Top ...

, followed by another win in 2019 of NATSIAA’s Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award for three-dimensional work by an Indigenous artist. Gumana’s work is held in permanent collections at the National Gallery of Australia and the

. Her work is part of

' Larrakitj Collection, and is also held in private art collections at Woodside Energy Ltd and the Estate of

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

Work

Exhibitions

* 2007 '' National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards'',

, Darwin, Northern Territory * 2008 ''Garrimala - Bark Paintings and Memorial Poles'',

, Richmond, Victoria * 2008 ''Blue Chip X - Collectors Exhibition'', Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria * 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory * 2009 ''Larrakitj - the Kerry Stokes Collection'', Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia * 2010 17th Biennale of Sydney, ''Larrakitj'' ''- the Kerry Stokes Collection'',

, Sydney, New South Wales * 2013 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory (award in the category of Bark Painting) * 2019 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, , Darwin, Northern Territory ( Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award)

Collections

* National Gallery of Australia *

*Larrakitj Collection of Kerry Stokes *Estate of Kerry Packer *Woodside Energy Ltd. Art Collection

Awards

*Use of her Dhatam imagery for Garma 2008 T-shirt and promotional material. *Telstra Bark Painting Award, NATSIAA, 2013 *Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award, NATSIAA, 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gumana, Malaluba 1953 births 21st-century Australian artists 21st-century Australian women artists Living people