INJALAK ARTS

CATALOGUE
S P I R I T S O F W E S T A R N H E M L A N D
ABOUT
Injalak Arts
Injalak Arts & Crafts is a non-profit
Aboriginal-owned social enterprise based
in West Arnhem Land. The Art Centre,
located in Gunbalanya community, was
officially opened in November 1989.
The members of Injalak Arts are Kunwinjku,
Mengerrdji and Erre people, all of whom
today speak the Kunwinjku language.
Within these cultural groups, all artists
belong to a kunmokurrkurr or clan, which
influences the stories and Djang (ancestral
creation stories or ‘Dreamings’) they are
allowed to represent.
Aboriginal people in West Arnhem Land
refer to themselves as bininj, meaning
simply 'people'.
Bininj today still carry on a number of
ceremonies, and divide themselves into
eight “skin” groups and two moieties.
Skin and kinship are central to all
relationships between people. Hunting and
harvesting of bush foods still plays an
important part in the life of bininj, and
revolves around the traditional calendar of
six distinct seasons. For example in
bangkerreng, the late wet season, the
dragonflies over the water tell people that
the fish are fat and plentiful. Game and
bush tucker are some of the most
important subjects in rock art and this
continues in the art of today.
 SPIRITS OF WEST
ARNHEM LAND
01 GABRIEL  MARALNGURRA

Ngalyod kore Kudjekbinj 
The Rainbow Serpent at Kudjekbinj

Acrylic on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm

$3,400

This work shows a number of Dreamings at the artist's

country, Kudjekbinj in Western Arnhem Land. The main
figure is Ngalyod, the Rainbow Serpent. Ngalyod is shown
with waterlilies growing from her back. Waterlilies are
believed to be a sign of the presence of Ngalyod in certain
waterholes, and picking them can cause violent storms.

02 GRAHAM BADARI

Dadbe
King Brown Snake

Ochre on Arches Paper, 51 x 76 cm

$1,700

This painting depicts the Dadbe (the king brown snake)

which is a venemous snake, like yirrbardbard (the taipan).
We have two types of brown snakes in our country here.
One lives in open woodland areas, while the other lives on
the floodplain. Lots of snakes aren’t venemous, but dadbe,
yirrbardbard and bek (death adders) will kill you if they bite
you.
03 GRAHAM BADARI

Yawkyawk
Water Spirit

Ochre on Arches Paper, 51 x 76 cm

$1,700

Yawkyawk is the Kunwinjku term used for young women

but also for female water spirits that have fish tails as shown
in this work. Sometimes they are described as ‘mermaids’
who live in trees and water in special places in West
Arnhem Land.

04 GABRIEL  MARALNGURRA

Yawkyawk
Water Spirit

Acrylic on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm

$3,400

I've became more interested in painting cross hatching and

x-ray style. X-ray style is important, it shows the anatomy;
heart, liver, lungs.  It’s about what’s inside the animal’s body.
I like painting both styles, cross hatching and x-ray style and
merging both to create my new style. - Gabriel Maralngurra
 05 ISAIAH NAGURRGURRBA
Isaiah has depicted Mimih spirits dancing. According to the
Kunwinjku people of West Arnhem Land, Mimih spirits were
Yawkyawk the original spirit beings who taught Aboriginal people
Water Spirit
many of the skills they needed to survive. They also taught
Ochre on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm aspects of ceremony such as singing, dancing (kunborrk)
$1,100 and playing didjeridu (mako).

06 ELIJAH NAMIRRKI 07 ELIJAH NAMIRRKI

Ngalyod
Rainbow Serpent
Acrylic on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm
$1,700
Ngalyod is regarded as a most important ancestor spirit in
West Arnhem Land and appears in various manifestations
in Kunwinjku mythology. In the Dreamtime she assumed a
range of animal forms including snake, kangaroo and
crocodile and at times transformed herself from one to the
other, or into a combination of each.
Kumoken 
Freshwater Crocodile
Acrylic on Arches Paper, 55 x 77 cm
$1,700
We use two names for the freshwater crocodile - “kumoken”
and “modjarrki”. Kumoken is the long nosed crocodile,
different from the short nosed kinga (saltwater crocodile).
They don't bite people. We see them in many places, usually
open areas rather than dense forest. They are seen in
flowing water, and high in the stone country.
TITUS NGANJMIRRA

“My name is Titus Nganjmirra. I was born in Darwin, but I

grew up in Gunbalanya. When I a little boy, I started
painting on bark. I was 9 years old when my grandfather,
Bobby Barrdjaray Nganjmirra taught me how to paint. I
used to watch my father Robin and grandfather Jimmy
doing painting. The first thing I ever drew was a fish, a
Barramundi. So from now on I still paint.”

In 2019 Titus won the Emerging Artist Category at the

36th Telstra NATSIAA for a painting titled Queen
Elizabeth (669-19).

08 TITUS NGANJMIRRA Titus has painted the Queen in West Arnhem rock art style,
incorporating her image and the effects of British
colonisation of Australia into the traditional Kunwinjku
Queen Elizabeth knowledge system. The background depicts the first flag to
be planted on Australian country near Sydney. On top of
Acrylic and Ochre on Arches Paper, 41 x 61
this Titus painted both male and female Nayuhyungki, the
cm
first people, as well as the plants and animals who have
lived in the stone country of Arnhem Land for thousands of
$3,000
years.
 08 GLEN NAMUNDJA

Untitled

Acrylic on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm

$7,800

Glen Namundja is a passionate artist who draws on great

cultural integrity for inspiration in his work. The depth of his
artistic oeuvre reflects his confidence in creating intense
compositions from his extensive cultural knowledge. These
complex works are often densely populated with entwined
figures and infilled with extensive rarrk (cross-hatching).

09 GLEN NAMUNDJA

Yawkyawk
Water Spirit

Ochre on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm

$7,800

Korlobarr (the antilopine kangaroo) and Dalkken (the dingo)

were originally two Yirridjdja moiety men. But they were
from different ceremonial moieties, kolobarr being Burddal,
and Dalkken Kuyal. They had a meeting and decided to
paint each other. Kolobarr let Dalken paint him first. When
he was finished Dalkken lay down and let himself be
painted. When Kolobarr was finished, Dalkken looked at
himself and was not pleased. He complained that Korlobarr
had made his mouth too wide and that his testicles were
wrongly painted. The argument led to a fight. The dingo
won the fight and he ate fresh meat from the kangaroo. He
said “You are now my meat - if I see you, I will hunt you and
eat you”. He also told the kangaroo that he would be
hunted by humans for food. Finally, he told Kolobarr that
from that time on, if either animals saw humans they would
run away.
11 GABRIEL  MARALNGURRA

Yawkyawk 
Water Spirit

Acrylic on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm

$3,400

Gabriel has painted various edible fish and reptiles found in

the billabongs, watercourses and wetlands that occur
throughout Arnhem Land in the 'Top End' of Australia. The
kinga (saltwater or estuarine crocodile) is a highly respected
and feared animal that has significance as a food source
and a totem to many Aboriginal people in western Arnhem
Land. Although the kinga has a fearsome reputation its
main diet is fish: namarnkol (barramundi), the renowned
game fish, kuluybirr (saratoga) and borokko (water python).

12 GABRIEL  MARALNGURRA

Kumoken
Freshwater Crocodile

Acrylic on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm

$3,400

We use two names for the freshwater crocodile - “kumoken”

and “modjarrki”. Kumoken is the long nosed crocodile,
different from the short nosed kinga (saltwater crocodile).
They don't bite people. We see them in many places, usually
open areas rather than dense forest. They are seen in
flowing water, and high in the stone country.
13 GRAHAM BADARI
The artist has painted Mimih figures hunting. According to
Mimih Kawarlbun Kunj the Kunwinjku people of West Arnhem Land, Mimihs were
Mimih Hunting Kangaroo the original spirit beings and taught Aboriginal people
Ochre on Arches Paper, 51 x 76 cm many of the skills they needed to survive in the bush along
with ceremonies, dance and song. These spirits continue to
$1,700 live in rocks, trees and caves but are rarely seen by humans.

14 GABRIEL  MARALNGURRA

Water Birds

Ochre on Arches Paper, 41 x 61 cm

$1,100

Gabriel has painted water birds feeding during Kudjewk.

Kudjewk is the monsoon season, normally occurring in the
first three months of the year. Kadjaldjakdung - literally it
just rains and rains. The wind and weather come from the
north west. Kudjewk is the time of year when ngalkordow
(brolga) and numerous other birds such as the manimunak
(magpie goose) nest.
15 GRAHAM BADARI This intricate and beautiful work indulges one of Graham
Badari's obsessions - Mayhmayh (Birds) of all kinds, their
characters and behaviour. In this work Kikkik (Honeyeaters)
Kikkik are feeding on the nectar of Eucalyptus Miniata
Honeyeaters (Woolybutt). Kikkik are small birds with long beaks and a
protrusible brush-tipped tongue to collect nectar from
Acrylic on Arches Paper, 51 x 76 cm
flowers. There are many different species of Kikkik that can
be found in northern Australia. Some of them migrate
$3,400
south during the Wet Season.

16 GABRIEL  MARALNGURRA

Kubolkdjamun Kunred Kubolkdjamun Kunred means sacred place, this work

Sacred waterhole at Kubumi
Acrylic on Arches Paper, 76 x 102 cm
$3,400
depicts sacred waterholes at Kubumi, in the artist's
husband's homelands of the Kulmarru clan country. A
waterhole is sacred because of it's related dreaming, you
cannot drink from it or go in a sacred waterhole.
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Phone: (08) 8979 0190
Email: info@injalak.com

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