 James Iyuna "Sacred Dilly Bag" Cat No. 8070 Size = 75 x 105 cm. Ochres on arches paper |
 James Iyuna "Sacred Dilly Bag" Cat No. 9373 Size = 75 x 105cm. Ochres on arches paper |
 James Iyuna "Rainbow Serpent" Cat No. 6450 Size = 102 x 152 cm. Ochres on arches paper |
 James Iyuna "Mimi Spirit" Cat No. 1503 Size = 75 x 105 cm. Ochres on arches paper |
 James Iyuna "Rainbow Serpent" Cat No. 8920 Size = 75 x 105 cm. Ochres on arches paper |
 James Iyuna "Sacred Dilly Bag" Cat No. 9136 Size = 75 x 105 cm. Ochres on arches paper |
Dob: 1959 Tribe: Kunwinjku Area: Western Arnhem Land. NT Outstation: Mumeka Language Bloc: Bininj kunwok Language: Eastern Kunwinjku Local Group (clan): Kurulk clan Social Affiliations:Duwa moiety, Balang subsection
Subjects and Themes:
Ngalyod Rainbow Serpent, Dilebang sacred site rainbow serpents, Buluwana submerged ancestor at Ngandarrayo, Mandjabu conical fish trap, Kunmadj dilly bag, Mimih spirits, Assorted Macropods, Ngalkordo- brolga, Wayarra profane spirits. Collections: Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. Museum of Contemporary Art, Maningrida Collection, Sydney. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney. Group Exhibitions: 1988, International Rock Art Conference [AURA] Darwin, NT. 1988, The Fifth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the N.T, Darwin 1989 Group show at Deutcher Gallery. 1990, Spirit in Land, Bark Paintings from Arnhem Land, National Gallery of Victoria 1991, The Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin 1990, Painted Ship, Painted Oceans, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney 1990, Keepers of the Secrets, Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 1994, Maningrida Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. 1995, Stories my Parents Sang, National Maritime Museum, Sydney. 1995 Group show 24 Hour Art Darwin, Snakes and Serpents. Selected Biography: Isaacs, J., 1984, Australia's Living Heritage, Arts of the Dreaming, Lansdowne Press, Sydney. (C) O'Ferrall, M., 1990, Keepers of the Secrets, Aboriginal Art Arnhemland in the Collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. (C) Ryan, J., 1990, Spirit in Land, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Notes: This artist is one of four brothers living at Mumeka. a remote outstation situated beside the mighty Mann River in the Stone Country which stretches in an almost unbroken line for 300 miles from Kakadu to Maningrida. James and his three brothers had very little western education because of the difficulty of getting to a school at either Oenpelli or Maningrida, the nearest townships in Arnhem Land. Instead they spent most of their time learning the history and religion of the Kunwinjku tribe as told to them by their uncle, the late famous bark painter Peter Maralwanga. Their own father did not paint either on rock or on bark, and died when his four sons were quite small. Maralwanga took them to his outstation about 20 miles away and taught them how to paint in his inimitable style, which featured the complex pattern of rarrk or crosshatching for which he was most famous, and included brilliant flashes of white, said to be the fossilised droppings of the Rainbow Serpent. This clay comes from a hidden deposit at a secret and sacred place to which no other artists have access. All of the brothers, Iyuna, Mawundjal, Njiminjuma and Bandawunga achieved fame as traditional painters of the mythology taught to them by their uncle. Iyuna's work is extremely hard to acquire because of the constant demands of art galleries and private collectors. His paintings hang in major galleries, and are featured in authentic art books. James was born in 1959. He is married and has two sons. He continues to paint at his isolated outstation, only leaving it to attend mortuary rites and secret and sacred ceremonies, for some of which he is the ceremonial leader.
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