Details of Wak Wak

Catalog Number : 26108
Size : 150cm x 57.5cm
Medium : Stringy Bark with ochre pigment
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This painting depicts a scard site at 'Kurrurdul', 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 forem of a rock, which is permanently submereged 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 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.