WATURR GUMANA
Other Names Birrikitji 2
Born 4 September 1957
Moiety Yirritja moiety
Homeland Gälga
Clan Dha`wangu, Nungburundi
Waturr Gumana is the eldest son of Gawirrin 1 and grandson of Birrkitji Gumana, an important political leader in pre-contact Northeast Arnhem land, and from whom Waturr gets his other name, Birrkitji 2.
Both his father and father’s father were acclaimed artists and were among the men responsible for painting the Church panels at the Yirrkala mission during the early 1960s. These paintings, depicting the descent of the contemporary Yolnu people from the Ancestral beings, hung on either side of the cross in the Mission Church until the 1970s.
Waturr Gumana has resided at Gålga all of his life, and has been painting with ochre on barks, as well as producing carved and painted wooden figures and Larrakitj or memorial poles from an early age.
In spite of his strong commercial following, Waturr Gumana has always only painted for the ceremonial knowledge and authority that is accrued through the production of, and participation in ceremonies related to, the works of art. He is renowned for his carvings that employ daring negative space and a mesmerising abstraction. His works are furthermore imbued with a dazzle factor, which Howard Morphy, one of the leading authors on Aboriginal art, aptly describes as shimmer.
He has recently followed his father into larrakitj and bark, and often concentrates on painting his mother’s mother’s story of the Kingfisher.
Exhibitions
2007 Bark Paintings and Hollow Logs from the Dhalwangu and Marrangu Clans, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2005 ‘Yåkumirri’, Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth
2005 22nd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, MAGNT
Darwin
2005 Yakumirri Raft Artspace Darwin
2004 21st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, MAGNT
Darwin
2004 Gawirrin & Waturr Gumana-Father & Son, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW
1999 Dhalwangu Bark Paintings from Yirrkala
1999 Rebecca Hossack Gallery London
Collections
Holmes a Court Collection
Harland Collection
LeviKaplan Collection
Bibliography
Dha`wangu Bark Paintings from Yirrkala 28.6.99-31.7.99 catalogue