Bark Painting

Bark painting in Arnhem Land is one of the most dynamic contemporary art movements in Australia. Artists paint their stories on lengths of fibrous bark harvested from the trunks of eucalyptus trees (Eucalpytus tetradonta). Groote Eylandt, in Anindilyakwa Country off the coast of northeast Arnhem Land where this painting is thought to have been made, has been a center of bark painting since the 1920s. The dashed lines of red, white and yellow ochres that comprise this painting are characteristic of Anindilyakwa bark paintings from the middle of the twentieth century.

The painting depicts a pair of large fishes, shown one above the other, against a black background. The fishes are open-mouthed and fill the frame; their bodies are outlined in red and the interior then divided into sections, each demarcated by the red paint, then infilled with crosshatched lines, fine serial dashes in parallel, and herringbone patterns in yellow and white paint. The red, white and yellow create a vivid, highly textured and dynamic surface over the black base. In addition, the artist delineates a pair of dorsal fins atop each fish which are outlined in white with infill; and a pair of pelvic fins below each body in white with yellow infill. The outline of each fish and its distinctive designs create a sense of symmetry: they are similar though not exactly identical.

Whilst birds, fish, reptiles and animals depicted by Anindilyakwa artists in bark paintings may have totemic or ancestral associations significant to the artist, and may relate to a local story (one that hints at prohibition or warning), this painting may be more secular and figurative in design - a manual guide intended to map the layout of the fish (its spine, fins and tail) as an index of knowledge and information on a particular species.