Deutscher and Hackett

Barrupu, Desert Mob Show, Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, 10 September - 2 October 2010 (illus. in exhibition catalogue, p. 14)

This work is accompanied by a copy of a certificate of authenticity from Buku-Larrngay Mulka Art Centre which states: ‘Previously Barrupu's art has been through the media of limited editions - works on paper. Her emergence as a painter has her bark perhaps the closest thing to the earliest works known of her clans sacred painting dating back to the early '40's and by her father Mungurrawuy and his brothers. They represent Ancestral Fire.

The totemic significance of fire to the Yunupinu family of the Gumatj clan is paramount. It is said that the Gumatj clan language, Dhuwalandja, is itself the tongue of flame. This language, or tongue, like the flame, cuts through all artifice. It incinerates dishonesty leaving only the bones of the truth.

In the initial interface between Yolnu sacred art and the Western art world an early decision was made on the Yolnu side to use figurative imagery to cover the miny'tji in paintings. This 'miny'tji' is the source and record of the sacred identity of the law and the land portrayed.’