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BOBBY BARRDJARAY NGANJMIRRA 1915 - 1997 Sacred Rainbow Serpent, 1983 ochre on bark 163 x 70 cm bears label verso: original cataloguing information; Sacred Rainbow Serpent, artist listed as billy numundjara, gumming tribe, sacred rainbow serpent; inscribed: Bobby Nganjmirra Guwinggu; West Arnhemland, NT 1983 Sacred Rainbow Serpent, artist listed as billy numundjara, gumming tribe, sacred rainbow serpent; inscribed: Bobby Nganjmirra Guwinggu; West Arnhemland, NT 1983 PROVENANCE The Artist, painted in Gunbalanya region, Western Arnhem Land, NT Oenpelli Arts (Church Mission Society), NT Private collection, NSW Bobby Barrdjaray was a senior Kunwinjku artists, alongside Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek, Yirawala and Dick Nguleingulei Murrumurru from Gunbalanya (formerly Oenpelli), Western Arnhem Land, and a respected custodian of Djalama clan knowledge. Born circa 1915, he was a key figure in the development of the region's bark-painting tradition, celebrated for his mastery of both ceremonial iconography and ancestral narratives. Rainbow Serpent (Ngalyod) depicts one of the most powerful ancestral beings of Kunwinjku cosmology, whose movements shaped the land and established sacred law. Executed in natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark, the work exemplifies Nganjmirra's precision and compositional authority. Its rhythmic cross-hatching and carefully balanced forms convey both the physical presence of the serpent and its spiritual potency, while circles, lines, and organic motifs reference waterholes, sacred sites, and ancestral pathways.This painting embodies the enduring vitality of Kunwinjku law, storytelling, and artistic innovation, positioning Nganjmirra among the preeminent Arnhem Land artists of his generation. @ BOBBY BARRDJARAY NGANJMIRRA / Copyright Agency, 2025