Sister and yam stick
BOPANI: artist
No image available
This painting is part of the Wawilak story. It belongs to the Liyagalawumirri mala and is one of the important age grading ceremonies of the aboriginals. The Wawilak sisters, the elder shown in the centre of the painting, travelled across Arnhem Land with their sacred yam sticks, naming the animals and plant life which later became the totems of the dua moiety. The cockatoo totem is shown at the left and the right of the sister and the yam stick at the upper left. The sisters came to the lagoon, Mirramina, the home of the great creation serpent, Yurlungurr. The waterhole is shown immediately above the head of the sister. The hatched background represents the runoff from the rain caused by the Yulungurr when he swallowed the Wawilak sisters because one shed blood in his sacred waterhole. Bopani belong to the Liyagalawumirri mala, dua moiety.
Title
Sister and yam stick
Artist/Maker and role
BOPANI: artist
Medium
ochres on eucalyptus bark
Measurements
34 x 64.4cm
Credit line
Purchased through the Western Australian Government, 1988
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
1988/0528