Ngalyod (rainbow serpent) from Kururrkkurduk
Artist
Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek
(1926 - 2009)
Date2003
Object number00038153
NamePainting
MediumNatural earth pigments on paper
DimensionsOverall: 1055 × 378 × 15 mm, 660 g
Image: 380 × 1055 mm
Image: 380 × 1055 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA painting by Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek titled 'Ngalyod (Rainbow Serpent) from Kururrkkurduk'.
Ngalyod is the Rainbow Serpent from Nadjamerrek's country, Kabulwarnamyo, at a site called Kururrkkurduk on the upper Liverpool River on the Arnhem Land plateau. Ngalyod is the god of transforming the land, and as a serpent, she tunnels underground using barbed extensions from her head and the breastbone protruding from her chest as aids.HistoryThroughout Indigenous Australia, there are various representations of the rainbow serpent, who is a powerful creature of both creation and destruction, and is almost always associated with water. In this painting Nadjamerrek depicts one of the many representations of Ngalyod - the rainbow serpent of western Arnhem Land. Depicted as a complex creature with the body of a snake, head of a crocodile and the tail of a fish, Ngalyod's status as the mother of all animals is shown.
Ngalyod also assumes a range of different animal forms, transforming from one to another. Just as Ngalyod changes, so too does the landscape annually, as she brings the rains of the wet season and transforms the land and waterways. In this painting Ngalyod is shown with water lilies growing from her back, symbolising her presence resting under water.
Of this painting the artist writes: 'This is the rainbow serpent which lies beneath billabongs when they dry up. The water can be gone but we say 'she is still there'. The waterlilies die but the rainbow serpent is still alive under the ground. She has water and she watches over her food. The protusion on her chest is her breastbone. This is the rainbow serpent from Kururrkkurduk'.
Kururrkkurduk is a site on the Upper Liverpool River downstream from Lofty's residence at Kabulwarnamyo on the Arnhem Land plateau.SignificanceThis painting represents the important ancestral story of Ngalyod, the rainbow serpent. The Dreamings associated with Ngalyod are over 40,000 years old. It is considered the creator of Australia's Indigenous civilisation, giving birth to the first tribes and animals, and creating the plants and rocks.
