Warmun is a community of about 400 people. At its heart is the Art Centre where more than 50 established and emerging Gija artists continue the traditions begun in the mid-1970s by painters including Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie.
Australia’s physical and cultural terrain has meant that for many remote Aboriginal communities their art-making traditions have become an important source of income. However, in the face of poverty, racism, and the ‘tyranny of distance’ Aboriginal art-making also works to maintain, celebrate and share cultural knowledge, helping keep it alive for future generations.
Warmun artists use crushed ochres, charcoal and natural earth pigments to make artworks that draw on traditional Ngarrankarni (Dreaming) stories as well as contemporary perspectives. Uniquely, they literally paint their country with their country and it is this velvety, organic quality that has contributed to success not only in Australia and New Zealand, where they are represented in all the Australian State Gallery collections and Auckland Art Gallery’s Chartwell Collection, but also in Paris, where a significant body of work has been acquired by the Musee du Quai Branly.
Photography: Kallan MacLeod
MABEL JULI
Garnkiny Ngarranggarni
2015
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
800mm H x 800mm W
Private Collection
CHARLENE CARRINGTON
Ngarragoorroon Country
2013
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
800mm H x 800mm W
Private Collection
DAVID COX
Sing Out Spring - Yiyili Country
2014
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
800mm H x 800mm W
Private Collection
LENA NYADBI
Jimbirla (Spearheads) & Dayiwul (Barramundi Scales)
2014
natural ochre and pigments on linen
800mm H x 800mm W
Private Collection
MABEL JULI
Garnkiny Ngarranggarni
2014
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
900mm H x 1200mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
DAVID COX
Sing Out Spring - Yiyili Country
2013
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
600mm H x 2000mm W (diptych)
CHARTWELL COLLECTION / AUCKLAND ART GALLERY
PHYLLIS THOMAS
Gemerre
2013
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
1400mm H x 1000mm W
WAC 400/13
Private Collection
Garnkiny Ngarranggarni
2012
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
900mm H x 1200mm W
Private Collection
PHYLLIS THOMAS
Gemerre
2014
natural ochre and pigment on linen
900mm H x 3600mm W (triptych)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
SHIRLEY PURDIE
Gija Kinship
2015
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
900mm H x 1200mm W
Private Collection
WARMUN ARTISTS
DAVID COX
Sing Out Spring - Yiyili Country
2008
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
900mm H x 1200mm W
Private Collection
MABEL JULI
Garnkiny Ngarranggarni
2010
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
1200mm H x 1800mm W
CHARTWELL COLLECTION / AUCKLAND ART GALLERY
PHYLLIS THOMAS
Gemerre
2013
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
900mm H x 2400mm W
PHYLLIS THOMAS
Gemerre
2014
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
500mm H x 1400mm W
GORDON BARNEY
Birrno
2014
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
500mm H x 1500mm W
Private Collection
PHYLLIS THOMAS
Gemerre
2014
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
500mm H x 1400mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION