Many of Barayuwa’s most significant artworks reference his mother’s clan’s ancestral inheritance, particularly in relation to the story of the stranded whale called Mirinyuŋu on the shore at Yarrinya during the Waŋarr (ancestral time).

Following Yolŋu systems of kinship, which extend to all living things, the whale belonged to the Munyuku clan. Two spirit men from the Munyuku clan hunted and killed the whale considered their brother, and its body washed up onto the beach at Yarrinya, contaminating it with blood and fat.The hunters used stone knives to sever the whale’s tail and cut its body into long strips.

Disgusted by their own actions, they threw their knives into the sea, forming a dangerous hidden reef. The bones of the whale are also said to have become a part of the rocks in the ocean.

The whale’s tail is referenced in raŋga (sacred objects used in ceremony). Barayuwa’s mother and her brother made him responsible for looking after this powerful story and passing it down to future generations of Munyuku.

This painting was a finalist in the 2017 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.