Title: Wuŋapu

Artist: Mulkun Wirrpanda

Artwork Size: 39 x 50cm (image), 76 x 58cm (paper)

Artwork medium: Multi-colour linocut

Born: c. 1942

Clan: Dhuḏi-Djapu, Dha-malamirr

Moiety: Dhuwa

Homeland: Dhuruputjpi

Art Centre: Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka

Printed: Yirrkala Print Space and Sean Richard Smith

About:

This is a distinctive shrub as the leaves are very dark olive. Underneath the leaf is velvety and silvered. The fruit looks like a Kalamata olive and has a delicious rich coffee taste. The fruit is delicious and highly sought after by birds as well as people. It has a very cryptic way of growing its fruit under the leaf or in unexpected places. You have to handle the branches and push and pull them to reveal the hidden fruit. This normally means getting green ants on you. The difficulty and satisfaction of finding the Wuŋapu fruit combined with its special taste makes children very proud when they come back from the bush with the tell-tale purple tongue that marks a successful mission. It is rare to find a tree with lots of fruit and much more likely to get one or two off each tree as you move between them. Old soft drink bottles are the usual receptacle for collectng such fruit as Wungapu or Munydjutj.