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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  Australian Indigenous & Oceanic Art
• Sale Date:
  21 Jul 2015 ~ 6.30pm
• Lot #:
  15
• Lot Description:
  Roy Wiggan
  (born 1930)
  Ilma (2003)
  synthetic polymer paint, cotton wool and wire on wood construction
  272.5 cm high
• Provenance:
  Private Collection, Queensland
• Notes:
  Roy Wiggan's ilma represent a unique form in the panoply of Aboriginal art traditions. As with the bark paintings of Arnhem Land and the canvases of the desert, the ilma embody a landscape rich in narrative, but they are seascapes rendered in timber and coloured fibre rather than ochre and acrylic paint. Ilma are the hand-held dance constructions made by the Bardi and related peoples of the western coast of the Kimberley that are carried in eponymous public ceremonies. The artist's visual lexicon of arcs, ellipses, circular and triangular forms may represent islands, clouds, rainbows, and in combination winds, storms, eddies, whirlpools and tides. Traditionally, ilma are wooden thread crosses, made of a timber structure that supports designs constructed from lengths of ochred hair or animal fur string. Ceremonies are usually held at night, by the light of a full moon and glowing camp fires. In this environment, the ilma flicker and flash as they are carried by dancers whose bodies are covered in painted designs. As recently as the late 1980s, Roy Wiggan was one of the first artists to take ilma into the public domain of the art world. As with Bardi men of his generation, Wiggan embarked on a traditional ceremonial journey of revelation and learning, while at the same time turning his hand to a number of professions: he gathered trochus shells for the local mission, worked as a stockman, and crewed cargo ships and pearling luggers working out of Broome. Wiggan commenced making ilma based on his profound knowledge of ancestral Bardi cosmology, history and country. The subjects of his ilma vary; they may recall ancestral narratives or actual historical events. Wally Caruana
• Estimate:
  A$6,000 - 8,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.