1 Alec Mingelmanganu, Wunambal people, Western Australia (1905–1981) Wandjina (c1980) natural earth pigments and oil paint on canvas 159x139.5cm

2 Jack Karadada, Wunambal people, Western Australia (1918 /1922–2003) Untitled(Wandjina) (c1971) natural earth pigments and binder on eucalyptus bark 145.5x67cm

3 Lily Karadada, Wunambal people, Western Australia (1935 /1939)Wandjina (1991) Kalumburu, Kimberley, Western Australia, natural pigments on canvas 80x60cm         

A    kimberleyfoundation.org.au    

Aboriginal people in northern and central Kimberley continue to identify with Wanjina, a continuous tradition dating to the last 4000 years. As figurations of supernatural power, images of Wanjina are characterised by halo-like headdresses and mouthless faces with large round eyes, set either side of an ovate nose. These ‘Creator Beings’ and the ‘Wunggurr Creator Snake’ are painted in many forms and can be repainted to ensure annual renewal of the seasonal cycle and the associated periods of natural fertility. The actual Wanjina is believed to either reside in the rock where it is painted or to have left its body there. Also called: Regular Infill Period, Polychrome Art Period.

 B   nga.gov.au

In many parts of the Kimberley in Western Australia, the Wandjina ancestral beings established the laws of social behaviour. The Wandjina are associated with the life-giving properties of water. They bring the monsoonal rains and distribute the spirits of the unborn to their eventual parents. Mingelmanganu was the first artist in the region to continue the tradition on canvas. To convey the scale of the rock paintings, he used the possibilities presented by the size of canvas as opposed to the smaller sheets of eucalyptus bark which artists in the area were used to painting on.

 C   Kim Akerman nga.gov.au

Unlike most Wanjina images that seem to stare far into the distance, those painted by Alec Mingelmanganu appear to be the audience gazing at the viewer, rather than being the subject of a painting. The close-set eyes lend a disconcerting air of questioning to the image. In turn, the broad hunched shoulders suggest that the Wanjina may not be all that comfortable with the world of humans.

Like most Wanjina painted in rock shelters, Alec’s figures possess a sense of enigmatic magnitude, a massiveness that projects far beyond the edges of the canvas. Mingelmanganu’s Wanjina paintings, executed in ochres on bark, were first exhibited publicly in mid 1975. As well as producing paintings for the (then) very limited market, Alec also engraved Wanjina figures, either singly or in groups, on tablets of stone or wood that had first been covered with a wash of ochre and gum.