“Ngenjayinga dawanga ngoondenintha birrgamib-gerring
Ngoondengig yirremandayin ngenjaying dawang Miriwoong
Yawwrroobtha yirrb yirroowindayin warrgeb-gerring woorngib-gerring, birrgamib-gerring”
It’s a good art centre – this place. We respect and do good things in this Miriwoong Country. We all come together here to dance and sing and make things.
– Waringarri artists
Established in the early 1980s, Waringarri Aboriginal Arts is an Aboriginal fine arts organisation based in Kununurra, in Western Australia.
Focused on the artistic expression of Miriwoong cultural identity, it supports and supplies over a hundred artists, in many different artistic media: painters, printmakers, wood carvers, boab engravers, sculptors and textile artists work in and with the art centre.
Grounded in tradition but exploring new art forms and contemporary media, their art often deals with the way the personal and collective histories of their people are meshed with the land and country of the Kimberley in north-Western Australia. The Indigenous people of this area of Australia still live with the consequences of colonisation and art is for them a way of dealing with them while reconnecting with the land of their forefathers.
Their art has been displayed in many solo and group exhibitions and is kept in many public and private collections around Australia and the world. It has been showcased for instance in the 2008 Paris-based Parcours des mondes or the 2013 Our living land exhibition in Shanghai. They have works in the National Gallery of Australia, the French Musée des Confluences, and the Allens collection.
Learn more about the boab nut carving tradition
Judy Mengil painting – Photo courtesy of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts
SELECTED INSTITUTIONAL EXHIBITIONS
2014 – Traversing borders. Art from the Kimberley – Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Australia
2013 – Our Living Land, An exhibition of leading artists from the East Kimberleys – on tour in Shanghai, China
2008 – Earth Colours Recaptured ! – Booker Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
2008 – Kimberley Ink and Ochre – Wollongong University, New South Wales, Australia
2007 – Red Hot Ochre – Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, Virginia, USA
SELECTED AWARDS
2015- The Bankwest Contemporary Art Prize, the Bankwest Gallery, Perth, Western Australia
2013 – The Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
2002 – Heyson Prize, Adelaide, Southern Australia
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2014 – In the Saddle, on the Wall catalogue
2013 – Our Living Land catalogue
2009 – Sharing difference on common ground catalogue
Judy Mengil – “Binjin country” – 2015 – Ochre on canvas – Photo courtesy of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts