Artist: John Mawurndjul & Kay Lindjawanga | Title: Milmilngkan & Mardayin Design | Year: 2010 & 2004 | Medium: natural earth pigments on bark | Dimensions: 138.7 x 42 cm & 160 x 36 cm
PROVENANCE
John Mawurndjul, Milmilngkan
Maningrida Arts and Culture, NT Cat No. 1224-10
Private Collection, NSW
Kay Lindjawanga, Mardayin Design
Maningrida Arts and Culture, NT Cat No. 2229-04
Aboriginal and Pacific Art, NSW
Private Collection, NSW
ARTWORK STORIES
John Mawurndjul, Milmilngkan
John Mawurndjul lived at Milmilngkan near a billabong and said that underneath the water lies the power of Ngalyod. In this painting, he depicts the power of the place with rarrk - cross-hatching - which contains Mardayin power.
John Mawurndjul has depicted Milmingkan place where Ngalyod - the rainbow serpent - resides under the water.
Kuninjku people say there are two Rainbow serpents. One is Yingarna who is said to have been the original creator of all ancestral beings, the 'first mother'. Yingarna's first born is a Rainbow serpent called Ngalyod. Yingarna - the Rainbow serpent - or her son Ngalyod are common subject on contemporary Kuninjku bark paintings.
Ngalyod is very important in Kuninjku cosmology and is associated with the creation of all sacred sites, djang, in Kuninjku clan lands. For example, ancestral stories relate how creator or ancestral beings had travelled across the country and had angered Ngalyod who swallowed them and returned to the earth to create the site. Today, Ngalyod protects these sites and its power is present in each one.
Ngalyod had both powers of creation and destruction and is most strongly association with rain, monsoon seasons and rainbows which are a manifestation of Ngalyod's power and presence. Ngalyod is associated with the destructive power of the storms and with the plenty of the wet season, being both a destroyer and a giver of life. Ngalyod's power controls the fertility of the country and the seasons.
Kaye Lindjawanga, Mardayin Design
This work concerns the Mardayin ceremony and its content is of a secret and sacred nature.
PROVENANCE
John Mawurndjul, Milmilngkan
Maningrida Arts and Culture, NT Cat No. 1224-10
Private Collection, NSW
Kay Lindjawanga, Mardayin Design
Maningrida Arts and Culture, NT Cat No. 2229-04
Aboriginal and Pacific Art, NSW
Private Collection, NSW
ARTWORK STORIES
John Mawurndjul, Milmilngkan
John Mawurndjul lived at Milmilngkan near a billabong and said that underneath the water lies the power of Ngalyod. In this painting, he depicts the power of the place with rarrk - cross-hatching - which contains Mardayin power.
John Mawurndjul has depicted Milmingkan place where Ngalyod - the rainbow serpent - resides under the water.
Kuninjku people say there are two Rainbow serpents. One is Yingarna who is said to have been the original creator of all ancestral beings, the 'first mother'. Yingarna's first born is a Rainbow serpent called Ngalyod. Yingarna - the Rainbow serpent - or her son Ngalyod are common subject on contemporary Kuninjku bark paintings.
Ngalyod is very important in Kuninjku cosmology and is associated with the creation of all sacred sites, djang, in Kuninjku clan lands. For example, ancestral stories relate how creator or ancestral beings had travelled across the country and had angered Ngalyod who swallowed them and returned to the earth to create the site. Today, Ngalyod protects these sites and its power is present in each one.
Ngalyod had both powers of creation and destruction and is most strongly association with rain, monsoon seasons and rainbows which are a manifestation of Ngalyod's power and presence. Ngalyod is associated with the destructive power of the storms and with the plenty of the wet season, being both a destroyer and a giver of life. Ngalyod's power controls the fertility of the country and the seasons.
Kaye Lindjawanga, Mardayin Design
This work concerns the Mardayin ceremony and its content is of a secret and sacred nature.