Jimbirla and lilmim
2005
Medium
earth pigments on canvas
Measurements
81.5 × 198.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds from the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2006
© Lena Nyadbi/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
Working with an austere monochrome palette, matt texture and the repetition of simple designs over large surfaces, Lena Nyadbi has formulated an austere visual language that conceptualises her innermost feeling for Country. The graphic vertical signs represent jimbirla (spearheads) made from the razor-sharp stones that abound in Nyadbi’s father’s Jimbirla Country, north of Warmun. Jimbirla were often produced for ritual exchange and hunting and were also used to make cicatrices on initiates’ bodies in ceremony. As a dramatic counterpoint to this formal composition, stars float and shimmer elusively in the smoky grey night sky, an allusion to the infinite beyond.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Warmun, Western Australia
Accession Number
2006.6
Department
First Nations Australia
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation