Contemporary Aboriginal Hollow Log Coffin

A contemporary Aboriginal hollow log coffin, Central Arnhem land, Australia, hollowed tree trunk, painted section between two undecorated ends with cross-hatching and line work designs in traditional colours: yellow, red, black and white. Each log coffin would display ancestral motifs evoking the deceased, here with serpents and tortoises, similar to the ones painted on barks and people's bodies during ceremonies. Traditionally, the ritual of the burial during which the bones of the deceased are painted and placed inside the log while performing a dance, would ensure the safe arrival of the spirit of the deceased from the earth to the land of the dead. However, this example was not used in a mortuary ceremony but made as a work of Art. To see similar pieces of Art: the Aboriginal Memorial at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, height 150 cm, diameter 20 cm