Wandjina

Another closely related spirit entity is the creator being Wunngurr, a being analogous to the Rainbow Serpent in other Aboriginal peoples' belief systems, but with a different interpretation.

When the spirits found the place they would die, they painted their images on cave walls and entered a nearby waterhole.

[5] Wunggurr is a variant on the Rainbow Serpent creator being belief, while the wandjina are local spirits, attached to places, and associated with particular clans.

The emergence of this art style follows the end of a millennium-long drought that gave way to a wetter climate characterised by regular monsoons.

Common composition is with large upper bodies and heads that may show eyes and nose, but typically no mouth.

Around the heads of Wandjina are lines or blocks of color, depicting lighting coming out of transparent helmets.

Indigenous people of the Mowanjum community repaint the images to ensure the continuity of the Wandjina's presence.

[10] In the late 1960s and early 1970s several Mowanjum artists depicted traditional Wandjina on pieces of string bark.