The Painters of the Wagilag Sisters Story 1937-1997

The narrative of the Wagilag Sisters and Wititj the Olive Python is a creation story of the Yolngu people of Central and eastern Arnhem Land. It is of central importance to their social life and rituals, ceremony and song, and the laws relating to authority, kinship, territory and marriage. The narrative also binds together groups possessing different parts of the story: the artists of the Liyagalawumirr clan and related artists from Central Arnhem Land, and the clans of Eastern Arnhem Land. This publication explores the pictorial representation of the tale across four generations of Yolngu artists, reproducing works from the 1930s to the 1990s.