Bäru Gurtha

Exclusive special screening 5.30pm, Monday 3 June.
Hourly screenings 3–9 June 2024.

Created by Gumatj artist and filmmaker, Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu from The Mulka Project, a new digital art commission Bäru Gurtha (Crocodile Fire) can be seen on oOh!media’s 3D anamorphic Bourke Street digital billboard in Melbourne’s CBD, 3 – 9 June 2024.

As a member of the Gumatj clan, Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu holds deep reverence for the Ancestral Crocodile, Bäru, bearer of the Ancestral Fire, Gurtha. His artwork encapsulates a pivotal ancestral narrative, depicting the moment Bäru first carried Gurtha from Maḏarrpa clan land to his Gumatj homeland of Birany’birany.

Gurtha, a vital life force for the Gumatj clan, embodies knowledge, regeneration, creation, and death. The diamond pattern featured in Gutiŋarra’s artwork is a traditional Gumatj clan design, symbolising fire. This design uses earth pigments: red represents the flames, yellow for the dust remaining post-fire, black signifies the charcoal, and white denotes the ash.

These colours also reflect elements associated with the Gumatj people – red for blood, yellow for fat, black for skin, and white for bone. Additionally, the design signifies the scars Bäru sustained from handling the fire and also the saltwater at Birany’birany.

Collaborating with his team at The Mulka Project, Gutiŋarra has crafted a 3DA digital artwork that incorporates his clan's designs, totems, and his native Yolŋu sign language to communicate their intrinsic connection.

Bäru Gurtha gives commuters and art enthusiasts to experience art and culture from Yunupiŋu’s coastal homeland Birany’birany in Arnhem Land right in the heart of Naarm/Melbourne city on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong/Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. The digital work of art celebrates the world’s oldest living culture, while enlivening a busy public space with a captivating 3DA work of art.

Curators: Tina Baum, Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art