Malalakpuy Munyarryun
Waŋgurri
205.5 x 18cm

ID: 7566-25

This bark shows disguised representations of a mangrove log washed in from saltwater Manggalili country into the Waŋgurri clan freshwater area of the Cato River. It contained Milka or mangrove worms which died once it washed into the fresh water. This pattern was etched in the log and is here repeated as the Wangurri sacred clan design which appears throughout. The songs of the Wangurri invest this log with sacred power allowing it to make paths that other beings and landscape features could follow. The object is a masculine interpretation of the log with a bi-focal view showing the log in cross-section. It is also a representation of the ‘mangrove worm’ with its wood eating jaws shut. Here the log has completed a journey through the tidal interplay of fresh, salt and brackish to the fresh waters of the Dhaliŋbuy stretch of the Cato River- the actual residence of the artist and homeland for the Waŋgurri. There is a metaphor for the souls journey from life to death to rest to rebirth. The Baliny, Barramundi whose own journey from fresh to salt mirrors a sexual transformation accompanies Nyuŋala,the Ox-Eye herring, a common Yirritja disciple from estuarine songlines.