COLOURFULWORLD

Monday 27 September 2021

Monday Mural - Gurrumul

I love murals and street art. If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  Once you start looking you will find murals everywhere.  The "Monday Mural" meme goes live on Monday at 12,01AM, Perth,Western Australian time. Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters. Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  Thanks, Sami.

I have to apologize because I was so late visiting and replying to the Monday Mural posts of last Monday, but with the exception of 2 nights, there was no phone reception or internet for anyone who didn't have Telstra (main Australian communications company) as a provider!  So I had a bit of social media cleanse. As I never even had time to watch TV, I was unaware of what was going on in the world either!

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I landed back in Perth on Saturday evening (25th), after spending a week in the Northern Territory visiting Darwin and Kakadu National Park, and oh boy, I was so thrilled to find so many beautiful and amazing murals around the city centre, and then found a few more in Katherine when we visited Katherine Gorge.

On the afternoon of my arrival in Darwin (Northern Territory), from the hotel room window I spotted 4 or 5 murals just a couple of blocks down, so the next late afternoon after we arrived from Litchfield National Park, just before going to dinner I started my mural hunting mission 😉

Painted in 2018 for the Darwin Street Art Festival, on the side of Carpentaria House in Austin Lane, by Melbourne artist Andrew J Bourke and local Indigenous street artist Jesse Bell, the mural depicts Gurrumul (Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu), a famous Aboriginal blind musician who died in July 2017, at the age of 46.

Painted with permission of his family**, the background features lyrics of his song "Baru" (salt water crocodile) chosen by his recording company and family.

**According to Aboriginal culture, when one of their clan dies, their "skin" name, image or voice cannot be spoken, shown or heard for a couple of years until the family decides otherwise. In this case, the Yunupingu family put aside their cultural mourning protocols so that Gurrumul's image could be seen and his voice could be heard.



Next to his mural is a mural with a traditional aboriginal cross-hatch design by Wendy Yunupingu, painted in 2019 for the Darwin Street Art Festival.
I noticed that Western Australian Aboriginal artists paint in dots, but in the Northern Territory they paint mainly in cross-hatch.


Because they were behind an enclosed area I couldn't photograph in more detail















I remember going to one of Gurrumul's concerts at the Perth Zoo many years ago and his songs sung in his language were hauntingly beautiful.

    



Can you spot the murals I saw from the hotel window?

















53 comments:

  1. What a fantastic collection of murals. Thanks for hosting this.
    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  2. I was very impressed with bot murals, but loved the first one for hw it looked like a photograph rather than a painting. That hand was what got me. Every detail was unbelievable. I see at least one more mural from your hotel room. Looks like you found a plethora of them close by.

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    1. It's a fantastic mural, the details are magnificent. I could spot 4 murals from the hotel window :)
      Thanks Elizabeth.

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  3. ...Gurrumul was a musical gift to the world and his death was a huge loss. Listening to his music was a religious experience for me, he touches my soul. Thanks Sami for sharing this.

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    1. He had a wonderful voice, it was sad he died so young. Thanks Tom

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  4. Yes I can see several murals. I like learning about new cultures, don't know much about aboriginal art so this is good.

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    1. Thanks Amy. My visit to Darwin and Kakadu was quite enlightening and I learned a little bit about Aboriginal culture and customs.

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  5. Great murals, Awesome clicks.
    Have a nice week ahead.

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  6. I discover Gurrumul. thanks for this post

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  7. It's a very nice mural and what a good idea to include the song lyrics. His death really was quite a loss to our country and he was so young.

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    1. Thanks Andrew, yes he died far too young.

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  8. Dearest Sami,
    Glad that you got cut off from social media and the news for a brief moment!
    We all need that once in a while.
    Incredible murals spotted from a very talented young man. Being blind but with such a perfect natural voice made him quite a singer. Listening to it, for me it sounds a bit like Bahasa Indonesia. At least the phonetics are very similar. Language of course is not related.
    Interesting post; thangs for sharing this!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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    1. It was nice to be cut off from the media for a few days.
      The murals are fantastic, thanks Mariette.

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  9. Beautiful murals and songs, Sami. And such wonderful memories (and horrible ones, too, LOL - I nearly killed our car in Litchfield NP and Ingo on the way back, nearly, too...).
    Oh, I think Darwin has changed A LOT! It was a "small town" in 1999. Your pics... wow.
    Please... show more? We´re so stuck here.
    I´m happy for you traveling like in normal times :-)

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    1. Thanks Iris. I didn't know much about Darwin and was pleasantly surprised with such a modern and clean city and friendly inhabitants. When I told this to people from there they all said that most people expect to find an old fashioned town. In WA we can only travel to Tasmania and Northern Territory right now, as they are the only 3 Covid free States!

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  10. Spotted it -- the murals from your hotel room. :)
    This is proof that 'Once you start looking you will find murals everywhere.' :D
    What a great find Sami. Also, it was nice to learn about this mourning tradition of these indigenous people.
    Good you had a good vacation and a good break from screens, big and small. :)

    Thank you for hosting. :)

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    1. Thanks Dee, I was excited to get to the window and see murals :)
      I learned a bit about Aboriginal culture during my trip to Kakadu National Park through our tour guide.

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  11. Good eye for seeing that mural from your hotel window. Great find ❤️

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  12. O pormenor do rosto é brutal!
    Boa semana

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  13. Beautiful songs and love the details in the mural. Yes, I can see the murals from your hotel window.

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  14. This is a really interesting post! You do a really good job hosting this party every week! That needs to be said. Thank you Sami

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  15. Thats a nice tribute to a native poet and music maker. Great discovery.

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    1. Thanks SC, it's a wonderful tribute for sure.

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  16. Not only are they beautiful murals, works of art in fact, it's great that they have significance and people can learn a little about the aboriginal people. This is more than merely adding a touch of colour to a building.

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    1. Thanks David. I found a couple more murals with relevance to the Aboriginal community which I found quite nice.

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  17. Replies
    1. Obrigada Francisco, boa semana para si tambem.

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  18. It is interesting that our countries share the same shameful history of our treatment of the indigenous people who were here first.
    This mural and music is gorgeous.

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    1. Very true Jackie. A few things are being slowly changing...

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  19. What a wonderful mural you found. I love that cross-hatch portion. It's beautiful. It must have been fun exploring in the Northern Territory.

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    1. It certainly was fun Sharon, loved it! I had never come across the cross-hatch paintings, in WA the just use the dot ones.

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  20. Wonderful murals. I was only familiar with the dotted style of work before.

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    1. Thanks Pat, it's the only style I was aware of as well.

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  21. Well spotted from that hotel window. The mural is a long way off.

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    1. Thanks, not too far just 2 streets down, and I found a lot of other murals in that same street that could not be seen from the hotel :)

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  22. Lovely!! We were lucky enough to see him a few times. Just enchanting.

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    1. That's lovely Lydia, I only saw him once. Thanks for your visit :)

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  23. Oh my! I was not familiar with this musician until now. What a beautiful voice!

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    1. I presume he might not have been very well known outside Australia. Glad you enjoyed listening to his beautiful voice Linda :)

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  24. A luminosidade das últimas fotos é incrível!!
    Gostei dos murais.

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  25. You always share such great murals :)
    Thank you Sami.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Thanks Jan, I found Darwin had some amazing murals!

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