The works of Moima Willie and Willie Gudabi can be interpreted as traditional maps and depict complex narratives about animal laws, circumcision and burial ceremonies as well as love songs. The compositions are rich in events and symbolism; the images recount totem and Dreamtime stories, featuring turtles, bull ants, medicinal plants, snakes and dancing women.

Together, the two create exceptionally vivid paintings; Willie Gudabi frequently depicts animal laws, whilst Moima Willie supplements these with love stories featuring totem animals, birds and fish.

These narrative depictions serve to explain, uphold, convey and defend the stories and laws. In this way, the legends and myths are properly understood and preserved. Much like the multi-layered meanings in Gudabi’s oral narratives, the paintings also reveal different levels of meaning depending on the viewer’s knowledge.

The colours in the mind’s eye and in the imagination of these two artists, who express their Country and culture onto their remarkable paintings, set a precedent in Australian First Nations art. Together with other artists based in Ngukurr – many of whom live far from their inherited Country – they have gone on to be recognised as great contemporary Australian artists.