Mats can vary greatly. Artists commonly use a mix of naturally dyed and undyed fibre to create a striking variation of coloured bands. Some artists also incorporate different types of looping to produce different patterns and textured finishes. Each type of mat, fibre bag, basket and dilly bag has its own name in the various languages spoken in the Maningrida region.
This is a painting of two ngaldadmurrng saratoga fish [Scleropages jardini] sometimes also called the Northern Spotted Barramundi. Saratoga are commonly found in creeks, rivers and billabongs around the artist’s clan estate. The animals depicted are on one level easy to recognize and their meaning is easily accessible. On a deeper level the animals are depicted with intense rarrk – cross-hatched – infill which creates a reference to Mardayin ceremonial mysticism. Saratogas make their nests on the bottom of river beds in the sand by digging with their tails and fins and lay eggs into these depressions. During mortuary rituals the Kuninjku imitate these nests in sand sculpture. At the end of funerals all those who have attended the funeral are required to stand in the ‘saratoga’s nest’ and they are doused with water to be cleansed from the polluting effects of the deceased. A large meteorite crater near Mumeka in the Liverpool River district is said to be the nest of the saratoga which now stands in the landscape as djang – a sacred site.
