DHAMBIT MUNUNGURR - LILLIES

DHAMBIT MUNUNGURR
LILLIES,  2023
206.5 x 70 cm
Acrylic on Bark
 
PROVENANCE
Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, NT Cat No. 1825-23
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, NSW
Private collection, NSW
Art Leven [formerly Cooee Art], Gadigal (Sydney, NSW)
 
 
 
STORY
In Lillies, Dhambit Munuŋgurr captures a moment of serene beauty through her signature palette of electric blues and radiant contrast. Painted using a traditional marwat (human-hair brush) with her non-preferred left hand, the work exemplifies Dhambit’s resilience and her bold reinvention of Yolŋu bark painting traditions.
 
Water lilies are a recurring subject in Yolŋu art, symbolising life, renewal, and the cycles of water that sustain both land and spirit. In this work, Dhambit transforms this motif into something entirely her own—fluid yet deliberate, luminous yet grounded. The lilies float across the composition with rhythmic grace, each form pulsing with energy as if stirred by an unseen current.
 
The artist’s use of vivid acrylic blues, mixed with ochre, speaks to both adaptation and innovation. After a car accident in 2007 left her unable to grind ochre or paint with her dominant hand, Dhambit pioneered her own colour language. The cobalt blue that has become her hallmark imbues the work with a celestial quality, echoing both water and sky, both Country and cosmology.
 
 
EXHIBITED
Dhambit Munuŋgurr, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, Sydney