Gunybi Ganambarr

A celebrated artist, Gunybi Ganambarr’s practice combines aspects of his traditional culture with material innovations to produce contemporary representations of sacred stories and place. Working with bark or wood, as well as recycling metal, rubber and other materials found on Country in north-east Arnhem Land, his unique artistic language pays respect to ancestral law while drawing on modern design and technologies.

For Ganambarr, sacred larrakitj—memorial poles that have been used by the Yolŋu people for thousands of years—have inspired this column. Integral to ceremony, the hollowed wooden poles play an important role in honouring the dead and recognising ancestral power. His column features intricate, etched minytji (sacred cross-hatch patterns) and its form echoes the knots and turns of the tree trunks from which larrakitj are traditionally made. Here, the Chancellery becomes a vehicle for continuing the tradition of Yolŋu knowledge transfer: across time, place and community.

^{Photo: Rhiannon Slatter}