Owen Yalandja (born 1961) is Aboriginal Australian carver, painter and singer of the Kuninjku people from western Arnhem Land, Australia. A senior member of the Dangkorlo clan, who are the Indigenous custodians of an important site related to female water spirits known as yawkyawk, Yalandja has become internationally renowned for his painted carvings of these spirits, as well as his paintings on eucalyptus bark.
Biography
Born in 1961, Owen Yalandja belongs to the Kuninjku people within Maningrida (Northern Territory of Central Arnhem Land). He is now a senior member of the Dangkorlo clan, which means that he has the responsibility to be custodians of a yawkyawk site (Yirridjdja moiety) in the Mirrayar billabong. Yawkyawk are female water spirits, similar to the Western mermaids. However, they are more than a mystical creature; to the Kuninjku people, yawkyawks are manifestations of their young female ancestors. These female water spirits can be disturbed or frightened by humans, causing them to retreat or escape into the Mirrayar billabong, Yalandja's custodian site. The Mirrayar billabong is sacred to the Yirritja moiety and the Dangkorlo clan are custodians to the billabong.
Owen Yalandja was known for his singing at the yawkyawk ceremonies, as well as his carved representations of the yawkyawk spirits. Yalandja learned the foundations of his carving techniques from his father, Crusoe Kuningbal. It wasn't until Crusoe Kuningbal's death that Yalandja began to begin carving mimihs spirits.
Kuningbal was a renowned ceremonial leader, bark painter, and carver. Crusoe Kuningbal was the yawkyawk ceremony leader. In the 1960s, Kuningbal began experimenting and inventing new ways to carving and sculpt mimih spirits. Until the 1980s, Kuningbal was the only Maningrida artist who could carve the mimih spirits. His artwork held ceremonial and sacred meanings, and they were used in a public Kuninjky ceremony called Mamurrng. It is Aboriginal tradition that an artist like Kuningbal will teach the next generation of male artists how to produce similar artwork and the meaning behind it; Yalandja and his brother, Cruose Kurddal, both learned from their father the skills and techniques needed to make these kinds of figures. It wasn't until after Kuningbal's death in 1984 that Yalandja and Kurddal began making large figure carvings themselves. Kurddal's style remained similar to his fathers, using the same red painted background and dot pattern. Kuningbal's original style can be seen replicated in Kurddal's Mimih spirit (1985), shown in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Yalandja, on the other hand, began experimenting and expanding beyond his father's teachings; he created new styles, techniques, and content.
Yalandja and Kurddal became successful artists, continuing the legacy of his fathers' artwork and tradition. Kuningbal inspired many Kuninjku people to create similar artwork, but it was Yalandja and Kurddal that led the way in creating mimih and yawkyawk pieces that were new and innovative. Due to their influence and skill, this form of artwork has become one of the most recognizable styles to come from Central Arnhem Land.
Since 2014, Yalandja has lived at the Barrihdjowkkeng outstation which was established by his father, close to the yawkyawk site.
Career
Instead of the more traditional forms of depicting the yawkyawks (such as bark paintings), Yalandja focused his career on creating large, three-dimensional wood carvings that represent these spirits. The spirits of the yawkyawks were girls from ancestral time, but they have since been transformed into slender water spirits with forked fish-tails, undulating bodies, scales, pointed breasts, and long, featureless faces. According to Yalandja: "Yawkyawk is a bit the equivalent of a mermaid in balanda culture. Yawkyawk is my Dreaming and she lives in the water at Barrihdjowkkeng near where I have set up my outstation. She has always been there. I often visit this place."