Australia, Kimberley, Western Australia
1970s
Eucalyptus bark, natural pigments
Height: 23 inches (58.4 cm); Width: 14 inches (35.6 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, London; Waringarri Aboriginal Arts Centre, Kununurra, Australia (labels present)
Lily Karadada (born 1937) was a Ngarinyin artist from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, working within the Wandjina painting tradition passed down through her community over many generations. Wandjina are ancestral beings associated with rain, clouds, and the cycle of seasonal renewal, and their image — characterized by a large halo-like headdress, circular eyes, and an absent mouth — appears in rock galleries throughout the Kimberley and on bark and canvas produced by contemporary artists from the region. This painting presents a frontal Wandjina figure rendered in ochres on dark bark, the body field filled with dotted patterning and the face clearly delineated against the ground.
Karadada was among the artists associated with Waringarri Aboriginal Arts in Kununurra, a center established to support Kimberley artists and document their work, and the presence of its label on this piece provides a direct link to her practice. The Wandjina image carries ongoing spiritual and custodial significance for Ngarinyin and related Kimberley communities, and works on bark from the 1970s represent an early period of sustained production within the gallery and institutional market.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Australia, Kimberley, Western Australia
1970s
Eucalyptus bark, natural pigments
Height: 23 inches (58.4 cm); Width: 14 inches (35.6 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, London; Waringarri Aboriginal Arts Centre, Kununurra, Australia (labels present)
Lily Karadada (born 1937) was a Ngarinyin artist from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, working within the Wandjina painting tradition passed down through her community over many generations. Wandjina are ancestral beings associated with rain, clouds, and the cycle of seasonal renewal, and their image — characterized by a large halo-like headdress, circular eyes, and an absent mouth — appears in rock galleries throughout the Kimberley and on bark and canvas produced by contemporary artists from the region. This painting presents a frontal Wandjina figure rendered in ochres on dark bark, the body field filled with dotted patterning and the face clearly delineated against the ground.
Karadada was among the artists associated with Waringarri Aboriginal Arts in Kununurra, a center established to support Kimberley artists and document their work, and the presence of its label on this piece provides a direct link to her practice. The Wandjina image carries ongoing spiritual and custodial significance for Ngarinyin and related Kimberley communities, and works on bark from the 1970s represent an early period of sustained production within the gallery and institutional market.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
