Crossing the Dreaming Land

Ceremonial Arts from the Arnhem Land, Northern Australia

Ceremonial Log Poles

As a unique art form, the hollow log is made from a termite-hollowed stringy bark tree (Eucalyptus Tetradonta) imbued with sacred designs. The paintings produced by contemporary Aboriginal Yolngu artists, qualified by their own ranks in the kin systems, contain elements of a profound and secret nature. Manifested in these sacred designs is the knowledge that holds the key to the essence of Yolnu Rom (law). The Rom has its foundation in the ancient chronicles of the times around the first morning. The chronicles in the form of manikay (ceremonial song), miny'fji (sacred design) and bunjul (traditional dance) tell Ancestral Deeds of Creation. The color themes on the paintings also carry their own sacred symbolism. The red, black, yellow and white symbolize blood, skin, fat and bone respectively. Traditionally, the Lorrkon is the final ceremony in a sequence of mortuary rituals celebrated by Yolngu people of North East Arnhem Land. Once the final rites have been administered to deceased, the body remains little value because the significant spiritual aspect of the deceased who are believed to have been delivered to the eternity via sacred channels (such as waterholes, trees and string, etc). However the bones are considered the only physical part of the body left. The journey of the spirit to the ancestral heavens through the mother earth was symbolized by placing the bones into the hollow log, which was then left out in the bush to decay and absorbed back into nature, and that is the final step of the rite.

Ironwood Sculpture

These sculptures are carved from ironwood found in Tiwi Island. Ironwood is one of the heaviest woods in the world; it sinks in water. After carving, ochre pigments, natural fibers, and feathers are used to decorate the sculpture with patterns inspired by characters from traditional Dreamtime stories.