While Wurrandan Marawili only began painting in 2017, he has shared culture through music since 2009. His band Garraŋali (home of the crocodile) is known for their sound, songs in Yolŋu language, and wide cultural resonance. As Dave Wickens from Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, where Marawili paints from, says, “For Wurrandan and Yolŋu people, there is no differentiation between music and dance. He is a Yolŋu lawman who has responsibilities to lead ceremony and for whom culture is holistic. What we are seeing now is him reaching his full power as an artist.”
Giḻilŋur djuḻuḻ’yun – Hidden in the ripples at Outstation is Marawili’s first solo art exhibition—a much-awaited debut since one of his earliest paintings on bark was posted on Instagram and immediately acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria. Yet more recently, Marawili’s work has followed artist Gunybi Ganambarr’s ‘Found’ movement: Ganambarr encourages his peers to adopt found metal signs as the base for their art, applying their own markings, etched using power tools.
Marawili is known for his innovative palette, fine patterns and inventive compositions, drawn from stories that relate to his clan estate. Etched diamond shapes in metal represent the saltwater estate of Yathikpa where Baru, the ancestral crocodile, entered the sea to escape fire. The lightning serpent, Mundukul, is another force within these waters.
Giḻilŋur djuḻuḻ’yun – Hidden in the ripples displays Marawili’s approach to concealing through revealing, creating his own style. As he says, “I am doing it in another way—different from other Yolŋu. Some things are hiding, some others are showing. That way balanda [white person] can see that style and push me for that work and encourage me to keep going with that style . . . [and] Yolŋu can see the power in the Country. What is its identity? It’s dance, it’s song, it’s parliament.”
Giḻiŋur djuḻuḻ’yun – Hidden in the ripples
Wurrandan Marawili
Outstation Gallery, with Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre
3—17 August
This article was originally published in the July/August 2024 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
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