Context (CMS Context)
The artists biography notes 'Johnny Bulunbulun was born just after the Second World War near the Arafura Swamp of Central Arnhem Land. When he was older, his family moved to the nearby Christian mission in Milingimbi so that he could attend school. He left school early to work in a variety of labouring jobs on the mission, at the 'government' settlement at Maningrida, and with the Armed Services in Darwin. Johnny is a senior member of the Ganalbingu group and is one of the most important singers and ceremonial men in north-central Arnhem Land.

He moved west from the Arafura Swamp to Gamedi outstation on the Blyth River when he married Nelly [deceased] the sister of painter Jack Wununwun [deceased]. A steady though not prolific painter he began to make his mark in the late 1970s when the Aboriginal art market expanded and the Art & Craft Centre artists cooperative at Maningrida began to be noticed. His career took an interesting turn in 1977 after he was commissioned to complete an individual mural on the wall and ceiling of an underground Australian Defence Department instillation in Canberra.

In 1981 his importance was recognised by a one artist show at the Hogarth Gallery in Sydney. In 1986 he attended the South Pacific Arts Festival in Tahiti.

His major composition is often the totem of Gumang, the magpie goose and Guwaynang, the long necked turtle focused around a central sacred waterhole. The Guwaynang is an important creature in Ganalbingu cosmology and is Bulunbulun's personal totem.

According to Bulunbulun, the magpie goose is the most important one
because it was him that made my country and my people.
....
Common subjects are Gurnang, the magpie goose, and Garjarr, the water snake amongst waterlilies in the swamp country at Djilibunyurnurr. The Dreaming figure Yangagai looks after his country. Other figures associated with these lands are Wamyu, the flying fox, Gunungurr, the blackheaded python, Barrnda, the freshwater tortoise, Diljidamba, a brown water beetle eaten by the tortoises and Lidgilidgi, finches. These finches and magpie geese are danced by the Ganalbingu people at Marradjirri (ceremony to celebrate the birth of a child) Djapi (initiation) and Murukundjeh (mortuary) ceremonies'. Taken from http://www.aboriginalartprints.com.au/indigenous_artists_details.php?artist_id=18
Event Date 7/3/2014
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (CMS Context)
Presented by The Art Fund and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. An acquisition project to build a collection of modern and contemporary work on paper from Australia, Canada and South Africa was undertaken over 2011-13 with the support of a grant under The Art Fund's RENEW programme. The collection was developed with the expert advice and generous assistance of Annie Coombes and Norman Vorano in relation to South African and Inuit artists respectively. Khadija Carroll, Anita Herle and Diana Wood Conroy also contributed to the selection process. Purchased from The Australian Art Print Network (Sydney Gallery, 68 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia).
Johnny Bulunbulun was a major ceremonial leader in north-central Arnhem Land who began to make his mark as a painter in the 1970s. Not only a customary lawmaker, he was an important advocate for Aboriginal arts and served as an arts facilitator and advisor at Maningrida, an important centre, particularly for bark painting, and on national bodies. In 1989, he brought a successful legal actions against a textiles company that had reproduced without authorisation one of his paintings on a t-shirt - one of the first occasions when the widespread appropriation of indigenous art in design, etc., was challenged.
In 1983, together with England Banggala, he spent a period at the Canberra School of Art and produced the first lithographs by Aboriginal artists.
This print exemplifies the effective transposition of body and bark painting to work on paper. The designs are associated with funerals and young mens' ceremonies.


Event Date 7/3/2014
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Body Design III - Warrnyu Black Flying Fox Bodypaint Design. Screen-print by Johnny Bulunbulun (2000). Unnumbered- edition size 75.
Printed on Buff Magnani paper
Event Date 7/3/2014
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
The print's story is described as follows, 'Johnny Bulunbulun is a senior member of the Ganalbingu group and is one of the most important singers and ceremonial men in north-central Arnhem land. His clan lands lie in the Arafura Swamp area, although he lives with the Burarra people at Wardeja. This is a Yirritja moiety painting which depicts warrnyu 'the flying fox' (Pteropus alecto). Warrnyu is the artist's clan totem and is shown here in the artist's country. The panels of cross-hatched stripes represent the rocks in this country, while the central black stripe represents water which springs from underground. The floral-type patterning on this stripe represents ngugarra 'bat faeces' which is significant to ceremony; it falls into the water from the high stones on either side of it where the bats live and play. The stripes of cross-hatching at the top, bottom and middle of this print mark the different sections of Ganalbingu country. This design is used for funerals and young men's ceremonies, when it is painted on the body of a man who has inherited the warrnyu as his clan totem. The same design is painted on the murrukunja, or 'morning star pole', used in the so-called 'morning star' ceremonies of ritual diplomacy which are staged between clans throughout Arnhem Land. During these ceremonies the design may also be painted on men's bodies. This design is owned by the Ganalbingu clan and cannot be copied by anyone else. This print depicts the public or 'outside' parts of the totem, but there are also a number of secret or 'inside' aspects that must remain unrevealed.'. Taken from http://www.aboriginalartprints.com.au/works_enlargement.php?work_id=452
Event Date 9/3/2014
Author: Rachel Hand