The painting depicts river waves (Ukumboro), a popular subject for bark paintings, though different artists commonly depict them in radically different ways. In this one, the artist had depicted waves that get blown up on the Sepik River and other large expanses of water by strong winds. The black lozenge or diamond-shaped forms outlined in yellow and stippled white lines that run down the centre of the bark represent the dark depths of the Sepik River. The zig-zag red lines running down the two sides of the bark depict the waves, the concentric yellow and white semi-circles on either side present sandy sections of the river banks.