12. (TVB 2) The Rainmakers, Fred Tjakamarra, 1996, 47 x 31 inches

Fred has depicted designs related to rain making ceremonies, the interlocking key motif is quite common to pearl shell used in rainmaking ceremonies and believed to be the esence of water. A number of these can be seen in the barks aand artifacts area of the site. Example below:

 

An important quality inherent in pearl shell is its shimmering iridescence. The shell's brilliance recalls that which emanated from Ancestral beings when they emerged from their places of origin, it is equated with health, well being, beauty, and most importantly ancestral power. Pearl shells are strongly associated with water and its brilliance. Some groups believed that pearl shell is the essence of water itself. Its flashing is the lightning that precedes summer storms. Irrespective of the uses to which pearl shell was put it was regarded as an emblem of life in its own right. Water, rain, and lightning, factors in the seasonal reawakening of the land after long dry periods, are all embodied in the shell.

The Interlocking Key Design: The design appears to have been derived from an anthropomorphic figure and in some cases is identified as the image of a mythic being. There are indications that some contemporary Bardi and Nyul Nyul people regard the design as being the "tree of life." The tree is a species of eucalypt from which sacred objects are fashioned in the area.