Item - Dugout canoe in storm at sea

ID UNSW BP 1992/0615 (089207)
Artist George LIWUKANG BUKURLATJPI (c. 1927 - )
Title Dugout canoe in storm at sea
Alternate Titles
Category Painting
Medium bark
Materials ochres on eucalyptus bark
Edition Number
Measurements (cms)  
  Height 131.00
  Width 61.00
  Depth 0.00
  Other Box frame: 158.5 x 88.5 x 6.5 cms
Marks/Inscriptions  
  Location
  Signed
Produced  
  When 1979
  Where Australia, NT, Elcho Island
Style NE Arnhem Land
Subject Nautical
Credit Line Presented by Professor John Cawte through the Australian Government's Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme, 1992
Description/Remarks    Image divided into three sections. Upper section depicts stormy sky with saw-tooth pattern of vertical triangles plus slanted parallel lines. Centre section shows three black figures rowing a large canoe with a woven sail; a wave design appears below the oars. Lower section has one large black fish and three smaller fish (two black, one ochre-coloured) unpatterned except for vertical stripes at gills and tail. All facing left; all on an overall cross-hatch (rarrk) patterned ground in ochre, white and black. Warramirri sea-going canoes were called "lepa-lepa" and were used to move rapidly from the mainland to the islands of the Arafura Sea. The rectangular mainsail was made of woven pandanus and usually measured 2m high by 3m wide (one-third forward of the mast and two-thirds behind).
Exhibition History
Bibliography John Cawte The Universe of the Warramirri: Art, Medicine and Religion in Arnhem Land NSWUP Sydney 1993,, pg.56; ill.pg.57
ISBN 0 86840 013 0

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