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Wak (Black Crow Dreaming)

This screen print depicts a sacred site at Kurrurldul, an outstation south of Maningrida. The original screen print design was made in 2010 but continues to be printed at Babbarra Designs studio. 

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 Kurrurldul Creek. The Djimarr 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 Djimarr rock at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek – the final transmutation of the Djimarr ancestor being. It also references the crow design used in the sacred Mardayin ceremony, a large regional patrimoiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.

Categories: Babbarra Women’s Centre

Name: Jennifer Wurrkidj

Language: Kuninjku

Community: Maningrida

Biography:

Jennifer Wurrkidj is a highly regarded textile artist who has been working at Bábbarra Designs since 2007. Her print designs often feature bush foods and food-collecting and reference the activities of ancestor beings and the ceremonial sites of her homeland, Mumeka.

Jennifer works at Bábbarra Women’s Centre alongside other members of her family who are also accomplished artists: her mother, Helen Lanyinwanga, and sister Deborah Wurrkidj. She is a daughter of Australia’s most highly acclaimed bark painter, John Mawurndjul, and she is renowned, in her own right, for her bark paintings, hollow logs and carved sculptures. Jennifer’s artwork has been exhibited throughout Australia and her textile art is in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

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