Mimih Spirit

Aboriginal people in the rocky environments of western and south-western Arnhem Land tell of the existence of tall slender spirits who they call Mimih. Kunwinjku share knowledge of the Mimih with other groups of people with familial and ceremonial links to the rock country. The people of western Arnhem Land believe that Mimih spirits live in a social organisation similar to Aboriginal people and that Mimih society existed before humans. Mimih are credited with instructing the first people with knowledge relating to survival in the rocky environment of the Arnhem Land plateau.

The song and dance of the Kunwinjku is known as the Mimih style. The Mimih are sometimes attributed with mischievous or dangerous qualities. They are terribly thin and have necks so slender that a stiff breeze would be fatal. For this reason they only emerge on windless days and nights to hunt. If a wind develops the Mimih run back to their rocky caverns and disappear inside.

John Mawurndjul is a renowned bark painter, sculptor and teacher who has revolutionised this Kunwinjku art form. He has carved and painted this Mimih figure in the tradition of those seen painted onto rock walls in his home country, but with his customary flair for innovative artistic interpretation.