Bawu

The significance of this work resides at two levels. Firstly, the artist is an important clan leader for the Madarrpa whose homeland is centred at Baniyala. He is the son of Mundukul and brother to Watjinbuy and Ngulwurr. Although not as well known as some of his peers, he has been represented in exhibitions since the 1970s and is represented in the major exhibition Saltwater acquired by the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. The painting itself is important as it references the early contact with Makassan fishers through the shaping of the bark as a sail. This is highly unusual but typical of Bakulangay's innovative and unconventional approach. The story is also important as it replicates in episodic form the journey that Yolngu used to undertake in their canoes from the mainland to Bickerton Island and to Groote Eylandt. Bakulangay's sail painting refers to the many hundred years of Indonesian visitation to their land. The grief felt when Makassan trepangers departed back to Sulawesi with bulunu (the south-east winds of the early dry season) is equated with someone's death, and symbolism such as the flag (sail) is a feature of mortuary ceremonies here. The return of the Makassans with lunggurrma (the northerly monsoon winds of the approaching wet) is an analogy for the rebirth of the spirit following the appropriate mortuary ritual. Moving from right to left, the painting describes a canoe trip from Yathikpa to Groote Eylandt by ordinary Yolngu, in the dry season, rrarrandarr, after the rains. The bark has been cut in the shape of a sail, bawu or garruru, which is a Madarrpa symbol representing Baratjala (Yalana) on the Djarrakpi side of the peninsula, where a boat can be anchored or beached during a storm. It is an old marngarr Macassan landing place (Garray Mangalay). The three canoes are Madarrpa canoes, called barraparra, miyangi, and djarngi. The white curve at the end of the painting simultaneously represents the Yathikpa mainland and a cloud. The internal black line is the reef off Yathikpa. The first panel depicts hunting for miyapunu, turtle, and the wavy cross-hatching represents the deep Yirritja moiety salt water moving in different directions © Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory