Mukguddu Nabegeyo

The artist has painted Ngalyod or Rainbow Serpent. The site of the dreaming is a creek called Djalbangurrk, in the artist’s country. Ngalyod (the Rainbow Serpent) is a most important ancestor spirit in western Arnhem Land and appears in various manifestations in Kunwinjku mythology. It is believed that as a serpent she tunnels underground using barbed extensions from her head and the bony protuberance from her neck as aids. She is generally feared as she may swallow Aboriginals who break traditional laws. Ngalyod dwells also in various billabongs (lagoons) in Arnhem Land. In the Dreamtime Ngalyod assumed a range of animal forms, including snake, kangaroo and crocodile and at times transformed herself from one to the other, or into a combination of each. She is painted in many images, according to each artist’s own imagination and mythological background. In this painting Ngalyod is represented as a kangaroo head inside of a billabong full of Namaarnkol or barramundi and mandem or water lily.