“People can look at the [Mardayin] designs, but they won’t know what they mean… but buried inside are secret meanings which others don’t need to know. Other senior Aboriginal men will look at the painting and will know what those deeper levels of meaning are and will understand them.” – John Mawurndjul

John Mawurndjul is considered the leading contemporary bark painter, and one of Australia’s most internationally exhibited living artists. This work was featured in the highly acclaimed exhibition John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney in 2018, which toured nationally. Mardayin at Dilebang is part of Mawurndjul’s abstract depictions of the innate power of Mardayin which is sacred in nature. A major work by the artist was recently acquired by the Tate Modern in London, in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and is currently on view in London as part of A Year in Australia: 1992.