Eleazer Nangukwirrk

This painting depicts a sacred site at Kurrurldul, an outstation south of Maningrida. The rarrk, or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called Djimarr. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrrurldul Creek. The jimarr rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred. The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor Djimarr. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred Mardayin ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.