• 18. Bawáliba and Ngalyod (Rainbow Serpent)

Lucy Yarawanga

18. Bawáliba and Ngalyod (Rainbow Serpent)

  
‘My Kikka (mother), when she was alive, she would tell me these stories. I was just a little girl and she would tell us the stories in her language Gurrgoni. In the camps there were boy and girl Bawaliba, and old Bawaliba too. They loved to dance by the firelight, keeping rhythm with a stick. They had lots of hair, they were really tall and skinny, with spots on their bodies. The Bawaliba lived a long time in peace. They were the only spirits on their country and so they were never disturbed. One day, a long time ago, the Bawaliba were out hunting and they saw a large snake – they didn’t know then but she was the Rainbow Serpent. They were really scared, they had never seen that creature before. She was really beautiful – like a normal king brown snake but with a rainbow from the sky on her back. The rainbow serpent was really hungry, and she could smell the Bawaliba from a long way away. She was out looking for food. The Bawaliba tried to stop Ngalyod coming for them but she was just too quick. She snuck up behind the Bawaliba and before they could get away she ate them up. When she was really full and couldn’t eat anymore Bawaliba she changed the rest of them into stone. Still til this day, the Bawaliba stay on that same country as stones.’

  • Ochre and Ink on Arches Paper
  • Dimensions: 57 x 38cm
  • Cat No. 1824-24


Bulanjdjan Lucy Yarawanga is an experienced Gurr-goni textile artist, who predominately works at Bábbarra Women’s Centre. She works with both lino and screen printing techniques, with her textile designs often referencing her ancestral stories, including various depictions of Bawaliba (Djinkarr spirit woman). Lucy’s painting style, like her personality, is bold and to the point. As well as her native Gurr-goni language – one of the least commonly spoken languages in Arnhem Land, Lucy also speaks another eight Maningrida languages.


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