Owen Yalandja (born 1961) is Aboriginal Australian carver, painter and singer of the Kuninjku people from western Arnhem Land, Australia.
Born in 1961, Owen Yalandja belongs to the Kuninjku people within Maningrida (Northern Territory of Central Arnhem Land).
[1] 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.
[1] 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.
It wasn't until Crusoe Kuningbal's death that Yalandja began to begin carving mimihs spirits.
[6] 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.
[7] Kuningbal's original style can be seen replicated in Kurddal's Mimih spirit (1985), shown in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
[8] Yalandja, on the other hand, began experimenting and expanding beyond his father's teachings; he created new styles, techniques, and content.
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.
"[9]While greatly inspired by his father's technique, Yalandja and his brother made the carvings larger to better represent the spirits.
[10] In 1990, he introduced a new 'V'-like technique to better indicate the yawkyawk's individual scales, giving the figure a more watery, "scaly sheen.
"[6] Yalandja's innovative design helps to show the spiritual power of these figures, in a similar manner to the way the traditional rarrk (cross-hatching) style of bark art was meant to do.
The increased size, new scale techniques, and black backgrounds are all examples of Yalandja's artistic innovation and creativity.
[3] Yalandja captures the spirits' slender, undulating bodies of by selecting pieces of curved wood that show a sense of movement.
[6] It is very unusual for Aboriginal pieces to have this sensual aesthetic; however, it is an important characteristic of the yawkyawks, as they represent fertility and are known to show off their elongated bodies and long-hair in their occasional sunbathing sightings.
[6] While he is best known for his carvings on the kurrajob tree, Yalandja has also painted yawkyawks on eucalyptus barks and hollow-log coffins (known as lorrkkon).
This pattern itself does not hold sacred meaning, thus is it considered "outside" and "non-representational; however, any clan member or person with knowledge of Kuninjku customs will understand that this design represents the scales of the yawkyawk spirit.
They can make themselves invisible to humans or magically appear to lure and trap hunters inside their rocky world.
"[4] Their sculptures and artwork were similar to their fathers, but they made the figures much larger to best represent the size and form of mimih spirits.
[4] Yalandja shows displays his style changing through this quote, "I love making these sculptures and I have invented a way to represent the fish scales on her body.
"But then we as indigenous people use our traditional stories or interpretations and put it into that new art form, the new medium we taste in the cities.