Collection
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art
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Title
Lany'tjung & Barama proclaim the Sacred Law
About
An ancestral spirit, Laintjun and his son, Barama, emerged from a sacred waterhole and proclaimed many ceremonial secrets to the first Aboriginal people of the world, including the diamond pattern body design, which represents the water of the sacred well. Here we see Laintjun and Barama explaining how to carve certain high-secret wooden symbols depicting the fresh water snake and fresh water turtle. Instead of the actual symbol the artist has here depicted the creatures they represent. The sacred diamond pattern is shown and at the top of the painting we see two water birds chasing a fresh water crayfish in the sacred billabong.
Harry Messel
Details
Other Title
Laintjun and Barama
Materials used
natural pigments on bark
Dimensions
84.0 x 35.0 cm
Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
Credit
Gift of Harry Messel 1989
Location
Not on display
Accession number
61.1989
URL / Share
Birrikidji Gumana
Lany'tjung & Barama proclaim the Sacred Law
Place
Where the work was made
Yirrkala
Shown in 1 exhibition
Exhibition history
Gamarada, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1996–16 Feb 1997
Referenced in 1 publication
Bibliography
Edmund Capon AM, OBE, Steven Miller, Tony Tuckson, James Scougall, Mollie Gowing, Harry Messel, Craig Brush, Ronald Fine, Alison Fine, Gordon Davies, Rosalind Davies, Christopher Hodges, Helen Eager, Rosemary Gow, Sandra Phillips, Daphne Wallace and Ken Watson, Gamarada, Sydney, 1996, 55 (colour illus.).