Betty Bundamurra | Wandjina's Assistant by Art Leven [formerly Cooee Art]

BETTY BUNDAMURRA | Wandjinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Assistant

PRESENTED BY COOEE ART GALLERY

8 - 22 DECEMBER 2018

BETTY BUNDAMURRA | Wandjinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Assistant 8 - 22 December 2018 Cooee Art Gallery Paddington 326 Oxford Street Paddington NSW 2021

Cover (front & back) Image Betty Bundamurra - Wandjina Rain Maker [detail] natural ochre and pigments on canvas 60 x 60 cm #17078 Inner Front Cover Image Artist Betty Bundamurra Image courtesy Waringarri Aboriginal Arts

Betty Bundamurra - Spring is Near natural pigment on canvas 140 x 80 cm #17076

The Wandjina’s Assistant Betty Bundamurra loves to paint! Her unique interpretations, and passion for storytelling characterize a practice that is driven by a deep connectedness with her natural environment and the embodied spirit forms of the Wandjina and the Kira Kiro. Belonging to the Ngarinyin Worrora and Wunambal Gumberra language groups, Bundamurra was born in the bush and then raised by nuns at the Kalmuburu Mission from the age of three when her mother passed away. She began painting late in life, in 2009 at Kira Kiro Arts in Kalumburu, a small community of only 500 people situated on the northern coast of Western Australia near Faraway Bay. The artist’s subject matter is richly diverse and for her debut solo exhibition, the works presented in Wandjina’s Assistant are best categorised in two themes. The first theme concerns the depiction of animals in their natural environment - these works are detailed renditions celebrating the Country the artist loves, joyfully painted with careful observation. They concern Kwini Dreamtime stories and Kwini lore; parables for children and creation stories. The second theme concerns the rich rock art in the region; the Kira Kiro and the Wandjina or Wanilirra in Kwini language. The Wandjina is the rainmaker and source of all life. The Kira Kiro spirits are said to be their

helpers or assistants. They teach people the law, how to hunt, share, protect and respect the land and sometimes they are fierce warriors. Bundamurra often paints these figures dancing and celebrating, either because spring has arrived and the Wandjina has watered the earth, or because people are following the laws correctly and they see their work is done. Bundamurra’s Kira Kiro spirits are multifarious, sometimes enlarged, exaggerated, with their limbs elongated and poetically distorted. They are adorned with extravagant headwear, tassels and artefacts, seemingly outstretched and disproportionate yet perfectly balanced. They gather together, curiously poised and exquisitely painted with spirited imagination. Bundamurra describes these spirits as creatures who float off the ground and have “little witches feet.” They live in her thoughts, come alive in her paintings and bring charm and humour to her stories for us to enjoy. Betty Bundamurra’s stories and poems, sometimes found written directly on the reverse of her paintings, are as beautiful and inventive as her visual representations. In Wandjina’s Assistant we gain an appreciation for the richness of this artist’s culture and rich spiritual life.

Betty Bundamurra - Celebrating the Land natural ochre and pigment on paper 57 x 76 cm #17056

Betty Bundamurra - Water is Muddy natural ochre and pigment on paper 56 x 76 cm #17072

Betty Bundamurra - Black Grass Wren (Nguni Nguni Jirri) natural ochre and pigment on paper 27 x 23 cm #17058

Betty Bundamurra - Sea Cow Dugong (Balguja) natural ochre and pigment on paper 28 x 23 cm #17062

Betty Bundamurra - Stingrays natural ochre and pigment on paper 27 x 23 cm #17059

Betty Bundamurra - Bogut Bogut & Urial natural ochre and pigment on paper 56 x 76 cm #17070

Betty Bundamurra - Bush Dogs - Orrolo (Dingo) natural ochre and pigment on paper 38 x 29 cm #17064

Betty Bundamurra - The Echidna - Gunnanji natural ochre and pigment on paper 38 x 29 cm #17065

Betty Bundamurra - The Night Herons - Diin natural ochre and pigment on paper 38 x 29 cm #17066

Betty Bundamurra - Bush Possum natural ochre and pigment on paper 56 x 76 cm #17071

Betty Bundamurra - Wanjina - Wanalirri natural ochre and pigment on paper 38 x 29 cm #17067

Betty Bundamurra - Dancing Gwions natural ochre and pigment on paper 38 x 29 cm #17068

Betty Bundamurra - Black Water Goannas - Lawkeepers natural ochre and pigment on paper 56 x 76 cm #17069

Betty Bundamurra - How the Barramundi got its scales natural ochre and pigment on paper 49 x 68 cm #17073

Betty Bundamurra - Stars natural ochre and pigment on paper 27 x 23 cm #17060

Betty Bundamurra - Kangaroo natural ochre and pigment on paper 27 x 23 cm #17061

Betty Bundamurra - Sand Stone Bird and the Kira Kiro natural earth pigments on canvas 60 x 60 cm #17077

Betty Bundamurra - Kira Kiro and Other Spirits natural pigments on canvas 80 x 60 cm #17079

Betty Bundamurra - The Whale - Wuliji natural earth pigments on canvas 45 x 45 cm #17074

Betty Bundamurra - The Stork (Ngalin natural earth pigments on canvas 25 x 25 cm #17080

Betty Bundamurra - The Owl natural earth pigments on canvas 45 x 45 cm #17075

Betty Bundamurra - Frilled Neck Lizard natural earth pigments on canvas 30 x 30 cm #17081

Betty Bundamurra - Wandjina Rain Maker natural earth pigments on canvas 60 x 60 cm #17078

Betty Bundamurra - Kira Kiro Warriors natural earth pigments on canvas 30 x 30 cm #17082

Betty Bundamurra - Celebrating the Land natural ochre and pigment on paper 57x 76 cm #17056

Betty Bundamurra - Crabs (Narlu) natural earth pigments on canvas 30 x 30 cm #17083

Betty Bundamurra - Protecting the land natural pigment on paper #17084

Cirriculum Vitae BIOGRAPHY Betty was born at Karunji station where her father was a stockman. She was born in the bush while her parents were on a walkabout. At the age of three, after the death of her mother, Betty came to Kalumburu Mission Convent where she was looked after by Ignatia Ganwalla and the nuns. She worked in the mission baking bread and at the Kalumburu school as a teaching aid. Betty has five children and eleven grandchildren, and lives happily with her family in Kalumburu. Betty has held the position as an arts worker at Kira Kiro Art Centre, Kalumburu, since 2012 and was selected for the Art Gallery of Western Australia’s Desert River Sea Visual Arts Leadership program. COLLECTIONS National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Zhongfu Group Collection GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2010

Small Works Art Prize, Brunswick Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne WA Hedland Art Award, Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland WA Kimberley Art Award, Shire of Derby, Derby WA Visual Arts Leadership Program Exhibition, Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Kununurra WA Kalumburu Artists, Mossenson Galleries, Perth WA Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, Sydney NSW Melbourne Art Fair, Mossenson Galleries, Exhibition Centre, Melbourne VIC Finalist 31st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT Traversing Borders: Art from the Kimberley, University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane QLD “Our Living Land” An Exhibition of Leading Artists from the East Kimberley, OFOTO ANART Gallery, Shanghai, China “Our Living Land” An Exhibition of Leading Artists from the East Kimberley, Salvo Hotel, Shanghai, China “Kira Kiro - Art of Kalumburu” Mossenson Gallery, Collingwood VIC “Songlines - A Coo-ee Christmas” Coo-ee Gallery, Bondi Beach, NSW “Revealed” An Exhibition of Emerging Indigenous Artists from WA, Central TAFE Gallery, Perth WA “The Rebirth of Kalumburu Painting” Mossensons Gallery Melbourne VIC “The Kalumburu Project” Seva Frangos Art Perth WA “27th NATSIAA” Museum and Gallery of Northern Territory NT

Betty Bundamurra - Wanjinas and their Assistant Warriors Kira Kiros natural ochre and pigment on paper 58 x 38 cm #17063

COOEE ART GALLERY