In other paintings the background pattern refers to the crosscutting currents in the estuary mouth or the ebb and flow of the tide along a particular stretch of the coast. Charlie Matjuwi and Peter Datjin show an exquisite and subtle mastery of Yolngu aesthetic forms in their representation of Gumatj land and law. The aesthetic effect of Yolngu painting is to create, through the process of rarrk crosshatching, an image of shimmering brilliance that is simultaneously one of movement and clarity. This brilliance captures the power of the ancestral beings imminent in the land, transferring it to the painted surface. The dynamism of Yolngu art resides partly in this aesthetic exploration of metaphor, this teasing out of the meaning of designs by connecting them with song, dance, people and land.
Dynamism also arises out of the interplay of different systems of representation.
The figurative art fixes for a moment the ancestral action to represent a particular event -the stingray striking the crocodile, the cockatoos in the paperbark tree. Yolngu paintings are infinite variations on a senes of complex themes that allow for a depth of aesthetic effect and a density of semantic reference. The divisions within paintings often designate particular areas of land or geographical features - rivers flowing into the bays, islands offshore, and rocks beneath the surface of the sea. Shared designs allude to the relationships between groups. That tongue goes all the way to Madarrpa country, to Gumatj country, to Warramiri country and Birkilli Gupapuyngu country' .