Wandjina the Rainmaker

This exhibition features paintings and prints by Kimberley artists from Derby and Kalumburu, celebrating Wandjina the Rainmaker - powerful cloud and rain spirits unique to the Kimberley in Western Australia. Said to have created the landscape and its inhabitants, with continuing oversight and influence, the deeply spiritual significance of these beings saw them originally depicted in rock art by the people across the region. Only certain artists have the right to paint and maintain the sacred sites, following strict cultural protocols.

The Mowanjum Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre is a creative hub for the Woddorda (Worrorra), Ngarinyin and Wunumbal people, who make up the Mowanjum community outside of Derby, Western Australia. These three language groups are united by their belief in the Wandjina as a sacred spiritual force and the creators of the land. They are the custodians of Wandjina law and iconography. In the late 1960s and early 1970s several Mowanjum artists created traditional Wandjina artworks on pieces of string bark, which were sold mainly through the mission at Kalumburu. These are now in major museum collections around the world.

Kira Kiro Artists is the Kalumburu community art centre, located on land of the Kwini people in north-western Western Australia. 'Kira Kiro' (or Kirri Kirri) are Kwini spiritual figures featured in the rock art galleries around Kalumburu, believed to be painted by the beak of the Sandstone Strike Thrush with blood from the tips of its wings.