Wandjina Chant Cycle
Photogallery
Wandjina Chant Cycle
Series of painted stone slabs produced by the artist Paul Miuron (896-1970) at the Pago/Drysdale River mission in North Kimberley (Western Australia). The works show the artist's close link with the tradition of the Wandjina, ancestral spirits venerated in the region of north-eastern Kimberley.
They provide evidence of one of the first moments of dialogue between the indigenous population and the Christian world: an aboriginal artist depicts for the first time on a "portable" support the cultural and spiritual universe of his own land, the region of north-east Kimberley, in order to donate it to the Pope. Like Christ, the Wandjina creators have revitalising powers, and left traces of their journeys on earth for their followers to venerate, before returning to their spiritual dwelling.
Painting in Kimberley is traditionally linked to many forms of art, including rock art, body painting, decorations on artefacts, coolamon and bark baskets produced exclusively in this region. The paintings displayed here represent one of the first examples of the process that led to the transfer of rock-based depictions onto a "portable" support, and precede the older paintings on bark gathered in the region in the 1930s. Further elements of particular value are the images painted on both sides (A-B) of the panel and the multiple meanings of each of these, linked to artist's stories of Dreamtime. Paul Miuron depicts the territory and laws of the Aborigenes, the natural phenomena connected to Wandjina spirits, ancestral beings, ceremonies, people, animals, birds, and their tracks.