Hollow log bone coffin
Jack WUNUWUN: artist
In Arnhem Land, funerals are performed in two stages. The first is when a person dies and part of the soul begins its journey to the Land of the Dead. For the journey, family members paint the body in clan designs, therein making it recognisable in the spiritual realm. Once painted, the body is ritually interred (or, as in the past, placed on a platform). In the second stage, which marks the safe arrival of the soul, the bones of the deceased are ritually painted and placed in hollow log coffins (Wally Caruana pers comm 2016).
Title
Hollow log bone coffin
Artist/Maker and role
Jack WUNUWUN: artist
Date
1979
Medium
ochres on hollow stringy bark trunk
Measurements
300cm (approx. height)
Credit line
Purchased 1992
© Jack Wunuwun, Licenced by Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
1992/0284