Semeria Wurrkidj

This work concerns a major patrimoiety ceremony of a secret and sacred nature called Mardayin. Much of the meaning of the iconography in the painting is not in the domain of public knowledge and so it cannot be explained in detail here. The painting refers to a site at Mumeka, which is an outstation in the artist’s clan estate in the Mann River region. The Mardayin ceremony performance site is located on a large billabong covered in waterlilies. This place is about 50km south of Maningrida in Central North Arnhem Land. The painting as a whole is the Mardayin ceremony. The lengths of rarrk are burrkno, the body of the ceremony, but also the ‘body’ of the water plant.