Dancing Belt, 2006

Kurrajong with natural earth pigments, PVC fixative, bush wax and feathers

1050 x 420 mm

$1,200

Artwork story: Born 1952, Boldkjam, central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Bob Burruwal lived and worked at the Rembarrnga clan outstation Ankabadbirri in Arnhem Land. He died in 2021. He was a Rembarrnga artist, ceremony and song man, who made bark paintings, carved wooden and fibre-based sculpture, as well as ceremonial objects. Common subjects in his works included wurlga and wurum (fish-increasing) spirits, namorrodo spirits and cultural narratives that were passed down to him that relate to sites within his clan lands. Burruwal was at the forefront of innovative fibre art practice being produced in Arnhem Land, and often collaborated with his wife Lena Yarinkura to create major narrative installations using the natural materials from their clan estates such as paperbark, pandanus, feathers, ochres, stringybark and hand rolled string. The dancing belt, called ‘bokngarru’ in Rembarrnga, is an object that has a long tradition. Such belts are still made and worn during dancing in ceremonies and are decorated with the owner’s clan designs.

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1952 – 2021

Kurrajong with natural earth pigments, PVC fixative, bush wax and feathers

1050 x 420 mm

$1,200

Artwork story: Born 1952, Boldkjam, central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Bob Burruwal lived and worked at the Rembarrnga clan outstation Ankabadbirri in Arnhem Land. He died in 2021. He was a Rembarrnga artist, ceremony and song man, who made bark paintings, carved wooden and fibre-based sculpture, as well as ceremonial objects. Common subjects in his works included wurlga and wurum (fish-increasing) spirits, namorrodo spirits and cultural narratives that were passed down to him that relate to sites within his clan lands. Burruwal was at the forefront of innovative fibre art practice being produced in Arnhem Land, and often collaborated with his wife Lena Yarinkura to create major narrative installations using the natural materials from their clan estates such as paperbark, pandanus, feathers, ochres, stringybark and hand rolled string. The dancing belt, called ‘bokngarru’ in Rembarrnga, is an object that has a long tradition. Such belts are still made and worn during dancing in ceremonies and are decorated with the owner’s clan designs.