Angelina Boona Karadada. Photo: Sia Duff
Angelina Karadada Boona
PROJECT
Angelina Karadada Boona depicts the Wandjina, an Ancestral being revered by the Mowanjum Community in the Kimberley region of north-west Australia. The Wandjina Karadada Boona depicts reside in the sky, in the rain and in the shifting cycles and seasons of Country, and are responsible for bringing the wunju (monsoon) rain. However, according to Karadada Boona, the arrival of the wunju is increasingly delayed and unpredictable. Day and night, Wandjina emerging emanates a constant stream of light. The installation highlights Wandjina as an active elemental and spiritual force while also reminding us of our shared responsibility to care for Country and one another.
The acquisition of this artist’s work is supported by Lisa Fox
ABOUT
Angelina Karadada Boona is a Wunambal woman. She was born in Kalumburu, the northernmost community in Western Australia, and has lived there all her life. The region is rich in rock art, particularly of Wandjina and Gwion or Kira Kiro figures. Karadada Boona is the daughter of renowned artist Lily Karadada, one of Western Australia’s most important artist-translators of the Wandjina into contemporary forms. Karadada Boona’s works are also widely renowned for their luminous depictions of Wandjina in her now signature palette of textural pale-pink and chalky-white tones, using the traditional medium of ochre (natural pigments) and goorin (sap from the white gum tree). It is believed that Wandjina beings imprinted themselves onto rocks and cave walls throughout the Kimberley region during ancestral times. In honour of their culture and ancestors, custodians of the Wandjina, such as Karadada Boona, have a renewed focus on painting these enigmatic beings from Country.