This work by John Baya, an artist from Ramingining in Arnhem Land, belongs to the tradition of bark painting from northern Australia. It refers to the Gitang Dreaming, an ancestral narrative whose deeper meaning remains reserved for initiated members of the community.

While the spiritual content of the story cannot be disclosed, certain iconographic elements are visible: notably two fish, likely barramundi, as well as two turtles, figures that are essential to the aquatic ecosystems of the region. The animals are structured by a large X-shaped motif that organizes the composition and separates the different decorative sections of the bark.

The surface is enlivened by rarrk, the fine parallel cross-hatching characteristic of Arnhem Land, executed with natural pigments. These traditional clan motifs are not merely decorative elements; they affirm the artist’s identity, territory, and cultural rights. Through this work, John Baya perpetuates ancestral knowledge while offering a visual expression of profound symbolic intensity.