Wagilag Sisters Story, 1982

natural earth pigments on bark

155cm x 76cm

$6,000

Secure payment via Stripe. Prices in AUD.

Provenance: Bula Bula Arts, Ramingining, NT, Cat No. O-729-ORR Private Collection Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, NSW
Exhibited: Bark Paintings 1930-2000, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, NSW, July 2011
Artwork story: The painting shows two pythons, Julunggul, who appear in the sacred Wagilag Sisters 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.

Click to enlarge

1920 – 2006

natural earth pigments on bark

155cm x 76cm

$6,000

Secure payment via Stripe. Prices in AUD.

Provenance: Bula Bula Arts, Ramingining, NT, Cat No. O-729-ORR Private Collection Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, NSW
Exhibited: Bark Paintings 1930-2000, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, NSW, July 2011
Artwork story: The painting shows two pythons, Julunggul, who appear in the sacred Wagilag Sisters 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.