Description
This Gupapuyŋu painting features animals that live in the freshwater billabong at Miḻiŋgi or Gapuwiyak, and are also important totems of the Gupapuyŋu people. While this work isn’t a traditional Yolŋu miny’tji (clan design), and not associated with a particular place in this sense, it depicts some of the Yirritja animals from that freshwater place – Burala (Diving Bird), Nyaŋura (long-necked turtle), and Manburi (Catfish).
These Gupapuyŋu totems are also all associated with the Djaḻumbu ceremony, a Gupapuyŋu burial ceremony. In a traditional Djaḻumbu ceremony, the bones of a Birrinymal (someone of the Gupapuyŋu clan who has passed away) are interred in a Djaḻumbu or burial pole. During the ceremony, the bones of the deceased person are carefully cleaned and broken up, and then mixed with the bones of Burala, Manburi, Nyaŋura and Wurrpaṉ (Emu) and interred in a Djaḻumbu. The Gupapuyŋu person who has passed away as well as the animal bones, and the mix of the bones are all respectfully referred to as Birrinymal. The everyday Gupapuyŋu word for bones is not used at this time.
In this work you can see the birrinymal of the catdish included as lines and dots on their bodies, giving reference to this important ceremony.
