Wandjina (cloud and rain spirits) **framed
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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.'
- Dimensions: 68cm x 50cm
- Cat No. 24-0212-25/50
As well as having two major Kimberley painters (now deceased) as grandparents – Nyunkuny Paddy Bedford on her father’s side and
Jack Dale Mengenen on her mother’s, Petrina already has established herself as a dedicated artist in her own right. Remarkably, she
first exhibited paintings at a commercial gallery in Perth at age twelve, when three of her canvases were hung alongside the work of
her maternal grandfather.
The oldest of seven girls, Petrina has Gija affiliations on her father’s side and Ngarinyin on her mother’s and lives at Imintji community,
230 km east of Derby along the Gibb River Road. She was exceptionally close to her maternal grandfather, who passed away two years
ago. He first encouraged her to paint as a young girl; “painting makes me sad because I think about him, I miss him a lot. But it also
makes me feel close to him. I think he might be proud of me now”. She was clearly greatly influenced by her grandfather who, she says,
took a special interest in her. At lunch, she managed to completely distract us from eating with her soŌly spoken yet highly expressive
renditions of stories from Ngarinyin country.
Petrina uses her own style when painting, but the subjects she turns to are similar to her grandfather’s; Wanjina and classical stories
relevant to her family. She loves to experiment with paƩern, very evident in her boab nut carving, a technique at which she excels. Her
painting style is looser than her carving in which her mark making, when using just a sharp pen knife, can be exceptionally detailed and
precise.
Text from, 'Mowanjum Daytrip,' August 2015, by Philippa Jahn, Desert River Sea, Art Gallery of WA
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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