MILMILNGKAN SITE, 2006

Important Australian Indigenous Art
Melbourne
26 March 2025
61

BALANG NAKURULK (MR MAWURNDJUL)

(1952 - 2024)
MILMILNGKAN SITE, 2006

natural earth pigments on eucalyptus tetradonta bark

93.0 x 64.0 cm (irregular)

bears inscription on label verso: artist's name, medium, language group and Maningrida Arts and Culture cat. 3842-06 

Estimate: 
$10,000 – $15,000
Sold for $15,955 (inc. BP) in Auction 81 - 26 March 2025, Melbourne
Provenance

Maningrida Arts and Culture, Maningrida, Northern Territory (label attached verso)
Short Street Gallery, Broome, Western Australia (cat. 11367)
Private collection, New South Wales, acquired from the above in 2008

Exhibited

Maningrida Survey Show, Short Street Gallery, Broome, 2008, cat. 1

This work is accompanied by a certificate from Short Street Gallery which states:

‘John Mawurndjul has depicted sacred sites at Milmilngkan. This is the site at Milmilngkan and these represent water, you can see here. The water comes out (the little round dots are water/springs). The water comes out at milmilngkan and there are springs there surrounded by water pandanus where the water comes out of the ground. This might be caused by rainbow serpents which live under the ground there. This is all cross-hatched here. The cross-hatching represents the country here. That’s what happens there, I’ve recently seen the water coming up out of the ground there. (as translated from John speaking language)’