MORTUARY CEREMONY

COLORS Used in this artwork are blends of raw sienna and browns.

BACKGROUND Is satin eggshell.

TEXTURING Is very soft and minimal, mostly appearing on the wall surrounding the picture.

SIZE 21”H x 13”W

CULTURAL INSPIRATION: Representing a mortuary ceremony, this picture comes from a “bark painting” of the Gumatj clan. It also depicts the country around Dhupuma, South of Yirrkala in Arnhem Land. The first bark paintings actually came from shelters. Bark painting is a tradition dating back thousands of years, in which the bark of a Eucalyptus tree is used as the canvas for the drawing. Between 1800 and 1804, French artist N.M. Petit was the first European to record these drawings in Tasmania. He found them on a bark shelter over a grave. The technique of bark painting is to start with a piece of stringybark cut during or after each wet season. Fourteen major species of this bark have been identified, most common being Darwin stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) and Darwin woollybutt (E. miniata).