 James Iyuna "Mimi Spirit" Cat No. 1503 Size = 75 x 105 cm. Ochres on arches paper |
 James Iyuna "Rainbow Serpent" Cat No. 6450 Size = 102 x 152 cm. Ochres on arches paper |
James Iyuna
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 cross
hatching 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.
