Wandjina (Cloud & Rain Spirit)
The Wandjina spirits are highly respected by the Worrora, Ngarinyin and Wanumbul people who live at Mowanjum and up the Gibb River Road to Kalumburru in the Northwest Kimberley of Australia. The Wandjina gave the law and the culture to the people to abide by, these customs are still carried on today. The Ungud helped the Wandjina in creation of the land, creating rivers, lakes, gorges, waterholes & billabongs. The Wali are our food source that our ancestors have hunted for thousands of years.
- Etching on paper
- Dimensions: 50 x 60cm
- Cat No. 23-0196-7/30
Mildred was born at Derby in the old Native Hospital (Numbala Nunga) and spent her 22 years at Mowanjum (“old site”) on the Derby Highway. This was where Mildred watched her father Alan Mungulu (dec) make didgeridoos and boomerangs at home.
“When I was there, I would see him do them.”
In 1979 the community was moved to a new site on the Gibb River Road and this is where Mildred now resides. Mildred paints, “what represents us, from our mothers and fathers. We keep it going from generation to generation.” Her artwork demonstrates an array of traditional symbolic representations, including Wandjinas from the three tribes of the Mowanjum community: the Ngarinyin, Worrorra and Wunambal tribes. Coastal Wandjina are signified by the series of circular lines crossed with radial lines fanning from the Wandjina’s head. It has been said this represents a cyclone and lightning.
Traditionally a painter, etching is a new medium now being explored by Mildred.
The Mowanjum Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre is a creative hub for the Worrorra, Ngarinyin and Wunumbal tribes, who make up the Mowanjum community outside Derby, Western Australia. These three language groups are united by their belief in the Wandjina as a sacred spiritual force and the creators of the land. They are the custodians of Wandjina law and iconography. The centre hosts exhibitions, workshops and community projects, as well as the annual Mowanjum Festival, one of Australia's longest running indigenous cultural festivals.
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