James Iyuna

Lorrkon Hollow Log

74
votes

James Iyuna

Lorrkon Hollow Log

Medium: Hollow Log
Size: 190 x 26cm
Year: 2008
Price: $ NFS
NFS

This artwork is part of a special slideshow feature for the fundraising auction Ochre: Supporting Indigenous Health through Art at Mossgreen Auction House, Melbourne Australia. This auction is held on Tuesday 14th October, 2008 at 5.30-8.30pm. RSVP Essential by Monday 6th October to +61 3 9726 0551.

The Lorrkon or bone pole coffi n ceremony was the final ceremony in a sequence of mortuary rituals celebrated by the people of Arnhem Land. This ceremony involves the placing of the deceased’s bones into a hollow log which was decorated with painted clan designs and ceremonially placed into the ground where it remained until it slowly decayed over many years. The log is made from a termite hollowed Stringybark tree (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) and is decorated with totemic emblems.

The western Arnhem Land version of the Lorrkon ceremony involves the singing of sacred songs to the accompaniment of karilkarl, a pair of sacred boomerangs used as rhythm instruments.

During the final evening of the ceremony, dancers decorate themselves with kapok down, or today, cotton wool and conduct much of the fi nal segments of the ceremony in the secrecy of a restricted men’s camp. The complete ceremony may stretch over a period of two weeks, but on the last night the bones of the deceased which have been kept in a bark container or today wrapped in cloth and kept in a suitcase are taken out, are painted with red ochre and placed inside the hollow log. This ceremony may take place many years after the person has died.

At first light on the fi nal morning of the Lorrkon ceremony, the men appear, coming out of their secret bush camp carrying the pole towards the women’s camp. The two groups call to each other using distinct ceremonial calls. The women have prepared a hole for the pole to be placed into and when it is stood upright, women in particular kinship relationships to the deceased dance around the pole in a jumping/shuffl ing motion. The Lorrkon is then often covered with a tarpaulin and left to slowly decay.

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