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Click to enlarge1920 – 2006
- Region
- Arnhem Land
- Community
- Ramingining
- Language group
- Yolŋu (Yolngu) – Djinba; Wudamin
Untitled (Wagilag Sisters Story), 1995
natural earth pigments on bark
96 x 36 cm
$1,800
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- Provenance
- Bula Bula Arts, Ramingining, NT, Cat No. BP1862
- Artwork story
- This design relates to the sacred Wagilag Sister's Story. The Wagilag are two sisters who travelled from south Arnhem Land (the Roper River area), eventually reaching a sacred waterhole or well in which, unknown to them the python Julunggul lived. The foods which they caught and collected, when placed on a fire, jumped up and disappeared into the waterhole. When one of the sisters gave birth to a baby, Julunggul smelt the afterbirth blood. Disturbed by this and by all the creatures jumping into his waterhole, the monstrous python emerged and swallowed the two sisters and the child. According to one version of the story, this symbolized the onset of the monsoon season. Later he vomited them up.