Artist: Lily Karadada | Title: Wandjina | Year: c.1985 | Medium: ochre on bark | Dimensions: 35 x 22.5 cm
PROVENANCE
Collected in Kalumburru, WA Cat No.85/KA/z1/PIE
ARTWORK STORY
Lily Karadada is the last of the great Wandjina painters from Kalumburu, on the north-western tip of Western Australia. She and her husband Jack Karadada participated in the first exhibition of Wandjina images in Perth during the late 1970s.
Painted with earth pigments and other natural materials from the bush, her Wandjina figures generally have distinctive pointy shoulders and often emerge from a veil of rain-like dots which represent the blood and water mix of man and animal. They are accompanied by animal spirits, beautifully captured in uncluttered character. Lily’s totems are the turkey, possum, and white cockatoo. She belongs to the Jirrengar owlet moiety and the Wandjina holds a special affinity with the owl.
It is said that the Wandjina spirit figure is the embodiment of the rain spirit and ancestor of the Woonambal, Ngarinyin, and Worrora peoples of the North West Kimberley. They are unique to the cave walls in the plateau areas along the North Kimberley coast, where they appear from a frontal aspect in red and white ochre, with no mouths, large black eyes, and a slit or beak-like nose.
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Kimberley, WA
LANGUAGE
Woonambal
BIOGRAPHY
Lily Karadada is a prolific and well-established Wandjina painter from the township of Kalumburu, on the northwest tip of Western Australia. This remote part of the Kimberley is sometimes referred to as ‘Wandjina Country’. The enigmatic Wandjina figures, painted and maintained for generations in the surrounding caves and rock galleries, have become emblematic of Dreamtime mystery… Continue Reading
PROVENANCE
Collected in Kalumburru, WA Cat No.85/KA/z1/PIE
ARTWORK STORY
Lily Karadada is the last of the great Wandjina painters from Kalumburu, on the north-western tip of Western Australia. She and her husband Jack Karadada participated in the first exhibition of Wandjina images in Perth during the late 1970s.
Painted with earth pigments and other natural materials from the bush, her Wandjina figures generally have distinctive pointy shoulders and often emerge from a veil of rain-like dots which represent the blood and water mix of man and animal. They are accompanied by animal spirits, beautifully captured in uncluttered character. Lily’s totems are the turkey, possum, and white cockatoo. She belongs to the Jirrengar owlet moiety and the Wandjina holds a special affinity with the owl.
It is said that the Wandjina spirit figure is the embodiment of the rain spirit and ancestor of the Woonambal, Ngarinyin, and Worrora peoples of the North West Kimberley. They are unique to the cave walls in the plateau areas along the North Kimberley coast, where they appear from a frontal aspect in red and white ochre, with no mouths, large black eyes, and a slit or beak-like nose.
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Kimberley, WA
LANGUAGE
Woonambal
BIOGRAPHY
Lily Karadada is a prolific and well-established Wandjina painter from the township of Kalumburu, on the northwest tip of Western Australia. This remote part of the Kimberley is sometimes referred to as ‘Wandjina Country’. The enigmatic Wandjina figures, painted and maintained for generations in the surrounding caves and rock galleries, have become emblematic of Dreamtime mystery… Continue Reading
