Trees and flying fox camp

In 'Trees and flying fox camp' c1950s Binyinyuwuy provides columns of the Ganalbingu rarrk (cross-hatching) for water, alternating with the clustered floral design for the flying fox. In form this design echoes the flowers from which the bats draw nectar, while also representing their droppings that fall into the water as they fly to the nearby paperbark forest, providing the water with power. As Gallery archivist Steven Miller has noted, ‘this comparatively restrained composition successfully reduces these associated, yet divergent realities to an identifiable visual code or abbreviation’. Binyinyuwuy inherited the rights to paint this Ganalbingu design through his maternal grandmother.