Hollow Log - Lorrkon by Irene Ngalimba
Hollow Log - Lorrkon by Irene Ngalimba
Irene Ngalinba
b. 1979
61 x 11cm
Wood, ochres, acrylic binder
The usual method of burial of an Aboriginal person in Arnhem Land is to dig a shallow grave and leave the body there for about a year, after which the bones are dug up and carried around in a woven dilly bag for a few months. The bones are then painted with red ochre and place in a hollow log which has been decorated with the totemic symbols of the clan of the deceased. This practise goes back to the Dreamtime when the first hollow log was made by Muruyana, a mogwoi (spirit) with strong sexual desires, who is said to have always been chasing women. He cut down a flowering tree and hollowed it out. It was then placed in the middle of the sacred dance ground and a ceremony performed around it, honouring the dead person so that his spirit might depart in peace for the happy land.
Artist Irene Ngalinba is a Kuninjku painter born in 1979. She is the daughter of Jimmy Nijiminjuma (1945-2004), an artist vital to the founding of contemporary Kuninjku painting movement.
Ngaliba’s work was first exhibited on 2003, her first solo exhibition was at William Mora Gallery in 2006. She has since exhibited extensively in galleries around Australia and internationally.
COLLECTIONS
Museuma and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
ArtBank, Sydney
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
Dr. Colin and Liz Laverty Collection
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2006 & 2008 William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Resilience: The power of the past today - Maningrida, Aboriginal Signature Estranging Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium
2015 Exploration of Bark, Outstation Gallery, Darwin
2014 Barks, Spirit Figures, Lorrkon and Ceremonial Poles, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2010 Best of Maningrida, William Mora Galleris, Melbourne
2009 During the Wet, Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, USA
Works in Season : Bark Paintings, Carvings & Weavings, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
Survey from Maningrida Arts & Culture, The Mossesson Gallery, Perth
26th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Ochre - A Study in Materiality, Short Street Gallery, Broome
2008 25th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Maningrida Art, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
2007 Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Spirit in Variation, Annandale Galleries, Sydney
24th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
2006 Dream Tracks, Aboriginal art of Arnhem Land, La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
2005 New works from Maningrida, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
22rd National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Rarrk, Raft Artspace, Darwin
Lorrkons and Spirit Figures, Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney
2004 21st National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory