WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY - SATURDAY 10 MARCH 2012

Vivien Anderson Gallery invites you to our first exhibition of 2012, presenting new bark paintings and larrakitj (hollow logs) by Djirrirra Wunungmurra, from Yirrkala in Eastern Arnhem Land, in her second solo exhibition I AM YUKUWA.

Yukuwa is one of the personal names of the artist and Yukuwa is also the topic of this work; almost a self-portrait. 

The paintings reference the Yirritja renewal ceremony, and in particular the Yukuwa, a yam whose annual reappearance is a metaphor for the increase and renewal of the people and their land.

This motif first arose after Djirrirra had been challenged about her right to paint Buyku - the fishtrap imagery of her own clan and homeland - by a family member. Rather than argue she retorted by painting imagery which in one sense is her own personal identity. The complaints in relation to Buyku evaporated but Djirrirra persists with the Yukuwa together with Buyku imagery. Both designs will be presented in this exhibition, with exquisitely delicate carved bark paintings inspired by the Buyku design and bark paintings and hollow logs referencing the elegant Yukuwa.