Mowanjum - Paintings & Prints

The artists of Mowanjum are never far away from the rich cultural heritage of Wandjina culture. These creation spirits, the rainmakers, make up some of the most extensive and ancient rock art galleries in the world. A museum of culture exists in the landscape, sacred sites where the ochre images of Wandjinas stare out of the surrounding rock surfaces, watching the land and the people and the ceremonies they offer.

The ancient rock paintings have been renewed by skilled over-painting throughout the centuries. In the latter half of the 20^th century local artists began to reflect their culture out to the wider world, using the ochre to paint on bark and boards and then canvas.

These small paintings being exhibited by the artists at Mowanjum project those same concerns as the earlier works of their forebears. They respect and bring forward the culture while paying homage to the traditional ways of their ancestors. These artists of Wunumbul, Worrorra and Ngarinyin language groups have a unique history that is reflected in the landscape and sacred sites of their country.

Read more:

• Mowanjum Wandjina Aboriginal Art Collection
• Wandjina Dreamtime Story in Aboriginal Art