Wandjina
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Alec Mingelmanganu painted his first Wandjina image on bark during the wet season of 1974-75. It was initially discarded but then entered in the 1975 Derby Boab Art show as 'Aural Gothic' In mid 1979, Mingelmanganu padicipated in a one-day art-and-craft workshop at Kalumburu; at around the same time he went on a field trip to the Lawley River where he saw depictions of the Wandjina with high-pointed shoulders. A major one-person show was held at Aboriginal Traditional Arts, Perth, in September 1980. It consisted almost entirely of images of Wandjina with exaggeratedly pointed shoulders curving upwards from the neck. This feature of Mingelmanganu's iconography was also adopted by Woonambal artists such as Lily Karedada.Acknowledgments to Ryan, Judith, with Akerman, Kim 'Images of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley', exhibition catalogue (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 1993) p.17.
Curatorial insightAlec Mingelmanganu painted his first Wandjina image on bark during the wet season of 1974-75. It was initially discarded but then entered in the 1975 Derby Boab Art show as 'Aural Gothic'. In mid 1979, Mingelmanganu participated in a one-day art-and-craft workshop at Kalumburu; at around the same time he went on a field trip to the Lawley River, where he saw depictions of the Wandjina with high-pointed shoulders. A major one-person show was held at Aboriginal Traditional Arts, Perth, in September 1980. It consisted almost entirely of images of Wandjina with exaggeratedly pointed shoulders curving upwards from the neck. This feature of Mingelmanganu's iconography was also adopted by Woonambal artists such as Lily Karedada. (Ryan and Akerman, Images of Power: Aboriginal art of the Kimberley, 1993)