Gali Yalkarriwuy, an internationally famous Aboriginal Australian artist from Elcho Island, off the coast of Northeast Arnhem Land, died at the age of 79.
Aboriginal Australian: Gali Yalkarriwuy Age
Gali Yalkarriwuy Gurruwiwi (1942–2020) was an internationally recognized Aboriginal Australian artist born in 1942 on Elcho Island, an island off the coast of Northeast Arnhem Land.
Gali was a prominent member of the Galiwin’ku Uniting Church and a Yolngu Mala leader and Gälpu clan representative, a clan component of the Dhuwa moiety.
He was best known for his Morning Star poles, which have been shown in international exhibitions in London and the United States, and his unique fusion of traditional Yolngu beliefs and Christian theology.
Gali Yalkarriwuy Wikipedia
Gali Yalkarriwuy has an official page on Wikipedia.
Gali Yalkarriwuy was a renowned creator of Morning Star poles, which he sold and showed after inheriting the Banumbirr legacy from his father.
Gali held a specific position in his society as a Galpu clan leader, senior ceremonial specialist, and Morning Star Dancer, responsible for transmitting aspects of the Morning Star tradition to his relatives and safeguarding Yolngu culture.
At the 28th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2011, Gali received the Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award.
Eight times he was a finalist for these coveted awards. Gali made national headlines in 2015 when he traveled 3000 kilometers with his granddaughter Sasha to perform the traditional Lunggurrma dance at her year ten graduation.
Jane Garrutju, Gali’s widow, claimed her husband was “powerful in educating his grandchildren to stick to their traditions, to be able to balance Western and our cultures.”
Gali and his son Trevor Barrarra Gurruwiwi developed and exhibited Morning Star poles in recent years.
Gali Yalkarriwuy Clan
Gali was a leading member of the Galiwin’ku Uniting Church and a Yolngu Mala leader and Gälpu clan representative, a clan component of the Dhuwa moiety.
Gali’s father, Gapuka, was the last living clan member who knew the core legends of the Morning Star or Banumbirr tradition, according to Gali.
The spirits reported dancing for the Morning Star perform melodies that connect the clans that own and govern the Banumbirr tradition’s knowledge. Gali produced the Galpu Morning Star poles, consisting of a long, slender wooden bar painted in natural ochres with clan patterns.
The different clan’s caretakers of the Banumbirr culture are represented by bark fiber strings with feather tassels connected to the wooden pole and hanging down.
Gali Yalkarriwuy Family
Gali Yalkarriwuy Gurruwiwi was born on Milingimbi Island in 1942 (precise year unclear), where his family had been moved during World War II.
Yalkarriwuy and his family relocated to the newly created Methodist mission on Elcho Island when the war ended.
From an early age, the artist was taught the inner substance of the Banumbirr by his father, Gapuka.
Gali was intensively exposed to Christian teachings growing up on a Methodist mission and routinely attended church.
Like his father Gapuka and many other mission inhabitants, Gali saw no contradiction between Ancestral law and Christian traditions and saw both as complementary.