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Ngalyod

Ngalyod (Rainbow serpent)

Rainbow spirit coming from billabong.

Rainbow serpent dreaming.  Coming from billabong, that place we call billabong where that ngalyod (rainbow serpent) lives.

All that wayuk (waterlily), all them kundalk (grass) and pandanus, making skirt.

That’s the story now. – Jennifer Wurrkidj

 Rainbow serpent, daughter of the Mother One Rainbow Yingarna. The rainbow serpent is a central figure in traditional Bininj religion. She is the creator of places and is active during the wet season and is asssociated with rain and bodies of water. Rainbow serpents live in deep waterholes and rivers. Marrkidjbu are able to discern their presence and control them.’

Source – https://www.njamed.com/

Categories: Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation

Name: Jennifer Wurrkidj (dec)

Language: Kuninjku

Community: Maningrida

Biography:

J. Wurrkidj was a highly regarded textile artist who started working at Bábbarra Women’s Centre in 2007. Her print designs featured local bush foods and food-collecting devices such as kunmadj (dilly bag), mandjabu (fish trap) whilst also referencing the activities of ancestor beings and the ceremonial sites of her homeland, Mumeka.

J.Wurrkidj also created artwork for Maningrida Arts and Culture alongside other members of her family who were also accomplished artists: her mother, H. Lanyinwanga (Dec), sister Deborah Wurrkidj and daughter Abigail Namundja. She was the daughter of Australia’s most highly acclaimed bark painter, John Mawurndjul, and renowned, in her own right for her bark paintings, hollow logs and carved sculptures. Her artwork has been exhibited throughout Australia and her textile works are in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, CDU, Bendigo Art Gallery, National Museum of Australia and has been touring internationally with Jarracharra (dry season wind) since 2019.

In her later years she focused her arts practice on mentoring her daughter Abigail Namundja who printed her lino designs in her capacity as an arts worker at Bábbarra Women’s Centre.

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