Larrakitj: Aboriginal memorial poles by Wukun Wanambi

This contemporary art installation by Aboriginal Australian artist Wukun Wanambi addresses a series of important ideas about ancestral power, the significance of land and the search for meaning. Aboriginal Australian memorial poles – known as larrakitj – are hollow coffins created to hold the bones of the dead in secondary burial. Placed in groups on significant sites and painted with clan symbols, they are left to deteriorate with wind and weather. Contemporary artist Wukun Wanambi (b. 1962) belongs to the Yolngu people of northern Arnhem Land and has worked innovatively with this longstanding art form for over a decade. Art is used by the Yolngu people in ceremonial performances, but also as legal documents and as a way to map the landscape and the relationships between people.

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Website
www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/larrakitj.aspx

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/se000073?id=EVENT526397