Wandjina
TheWandjina,also writtenWanjinaandWondjinaand also known asGulingi,are cloud and rain spirits from theWanjina Wunggurrcultural bloc ofAboriginal Australians,depicted prominently inrock artin northwesternAustralia.Some of the artwork in theKimberley regionofWestern Australiadates back to approximately 4,000 years ago. Another closely related spirit entity is thecreator beingWunngurr,a being analogous to theRainbow Serpentin other Aboriginal peoples' belief systems, but with a different interpretation.
The stories of the Wandjina and the artwork depicting them remain important to theMowanjum CommunityofAboriginal people,and are one of the basic cultural elements of theWanjina Wunggurrcultural bloc, which includes four Aboriginal peoples in the Kimberley.
Dreamtime legends
[edit]SomeDreamtimestories say the Wandjina created the landscape and its inhabitants, and continue to have influence over both. When the spirits found the place they would die, they painted their images oncavewalls and entered a nearby waterhole. These paintings were then refreshed by Aboriginal people as a method of regenerating life force.[1]
The Wandjina can punish those who break the law with floods, lightning and cyclones.[2]
Wandjina and Wunggurr beliefs
[edit]The Wandjina and Wunggurr spirits are essential elements of the life of thecultural blocknown as theWanjina Wunggurr,consisting of theWorrorra(and neighbouringNgardi[3]),WunambalandNgarinyinpeoples of the Kimberley.[4]Rock paintings depicting Wanjina, as well as theGwion Gwion( "Bradshaw" ) paintings, are evidence of the shared culture.[3]TheWunambalpeople in theMitchell Plateauarea refer to Wandjina as Gulingi.[5]
Wunggurr is a variant on theRainbow Serpentcreator being belief, while the wandjina are local spirits, attached to places, and associated with particular clans. Although some local expressions use the two terms interchangeably,wungurris a "more diffuse life force animating and underlying the particular manifestations of its power that find expression in all species of things, including the wandjina". One facet of wungurr is embodied in a rock python known as Wanjad.[6]
Traditional rock artwork
[edit]
The broad-stroke artwork of the Wandjina rock art dates to around 3800–4000 years ago. The emergence of this art style follows the end of a millennium-long drought that gave way to a wetter climate characterised by regular monsoons.[7]
The Wandjina paintings have common colours of black, red and yellow on a white background. The spirits are depicted alone or in groups, vertically or horizontally depending on the dimensions of the rock, and are sometimes depicted with figures and objects like theRainbow Serpentoryams.Common composition is with large upper bodies and heads that may show eyes and nose, but typically no mouth. Two explanations have been given for this: they are so powerful they do not require speech and if they had mouths, the rain would never cease. Around the heads of Wandjina are lines or blocks of color, depicting lighting coming out of transparent helmets.[2]
Today, the paintings are still believed to possess these powers and therefore are to be approached and treated respectfully. Each site and painting has a name. Indigenous people of the Mowanjum community repaint the images to ensure the continuity of the Wandjina's presence.[8]Annual repainting in December or January also ensures the arrival of the monsoon rains, according to Mowanjum belief.[9]
Repainting has occurred so often that at one site the paint is over 40 layers deep. The painting style has evolved during this process: more recent figures are stockier and some now possess eyelashes.[10]
Depictions on bark
[edit]In the late 1960s and early 1970s several Mowanjum artists depicted traditional Wandjina on pieces of string bark.[11]Thesebark paintingswere sold mainly through the mission atKalumbaru.Some of the important artists from this region includeAlec Mingelmanganu,[12]Charlie Numbelmoore[13]andJack Karedada.[14]These artworks are now in major museum collections around the world.
Other depictions
[edit]Wandjina were the inspiration for a 1966 children's fantasy television series,Wandjina!,produced byABC Televisionin 1966.
In 2007,graffitidepictions of Wandjina appeared inPerth,Western Australia. Styles ranged from stencil-work to a spray painted Wandjina driving a pink car. UsingFlickrandblogs,several people engaged in "Wandjina watching", documenting the Wandjina graffiti they found.[15]These "wandering Wandjina" angered and upset some Indigenous people who said that only certain artists from their people are permitted to depict the Wandjina, without saying who these people are.[16]A short film,Who Paintin' Dis Wandjina,discussed the Aboriginal reaction.[17]
Images of the Wandjina are displayed on the walls of theRingwoodMagistrates Court in Victoria; these are referenced as produced theNational Gallery of Victoria.[citation needed]
In 2016, during theVivid Sydneyfestival, artwork of Wandjina by artistDonny Woolagoodjawas projected onto theSydney Opera Houseas part of its Lighting of the Sails celebration.[18]
In 2023, Wandjina was added to the popular mobile gameFate/Grand Order,[19]initially as an antagonist and later as a playable character.[20]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Yorro Yorro: everything standing up alive, (1993), Mowaljarlai, D, and Malnic, J., Magabala Books, pp137-139.
- ^abFlood, Josephine (1997).Rock Art of the Dreamtime.
- ^ab"Aztec Resources Ltd Announcements - Aztec Resources Ltd: Koolan Island Agreement".Investegate.24 April 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 15 November 2020.Retrieved10 November2020.
- ^"Wunambal Gaambera People".Wunambal Gaambera Country.
- ^"Mitchell Plateau".Derby Tourism.Archived fromthe originalon 11 November 2020.Retrieved11 November2020.
- ^"Ungarinyin Religion".Encyclopedia.com.Archived fromthe originalon 12 March 2022.Retrieved11 November2020.
- ^McGown, Hamish; Marx, Samuel; Moss, Patrick; Hammond, Andrew (28 November 2012)."Evidence of ENSO mega-drought triggered collapse of prehistory Aboriginal society in northwest Australia".Geophysical Research Letters.39(22): 5.Bibcode:2012GeoRL..3922702M.doi:10.1029/2012GL053916.
- ^ Flood, Josephine (1997).Rock Art of the Dreamtime.
- ^Akerman, Kim & Ryan, Judith (1993).Images of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley.p. 12.
- ^Mulvaney, John & Kamminga, Johan (1999).Prehistory of Australia.p. 405.
- ^Ryan, Judith; Akerman, Kim (1993).Images of power: Aboriginal art of the Kimberley.Melbourne:National Gallery of Victoria.ISBN978-0724101603.OCLC29776440.
- ^"Alec Mingelmanganu wandjina | wondjina | sell Alec Mingelmanganu".Aboriginal Bark Paintings.2017-09-18.Retrieved2018-11-13.
- ^"Charlie Numbelmoore | Charlie Numbulbor | sell Charlie Numbelmoore".Aboriginal Bark Paintings.2017-09-18.Retrieved2018-11-13.
- ^"Jack Karedada wandjina painting | wondjina | Sell Jack Karedada".Aboriginal Bark Paintings.2017-09-18.Retrieved2018-11-13.
- ^"Watching the Wandjina".PerthNorg.5 January 2007. Archived fromthe originalon 15 March 2012.
- ^"'Wandering Wandjinas' mystery ".PerthNow.4 January 2007.Retrieved17 September2023.
- ^Korff, Jens."Who Paintin' Dis Wandjina?".Creative Spirits.
- ^"Lighting up the Opera House".Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation.19 August 2016.Retrieved25 December2021.
- ^"FGO".FGOJP(in Japanese). 17 September 2023.Retrieved17 September2023.
- ^Liu, Stephanie (18 September 2023)."New playable Fate/Grand Order foreigner will be Wandjina".Siliconera.Retrieved1 November2023.