Warmun artist Patrick Mung Mung with a valuable painting by his father that was salvaged from the town's flooded art centre and restored to its former glory.
Picture: Stuart McEvoy Source: The Australian

AS floodwaters raced through the remote West Australian community of Warmun in March, the manager of the local arts centre thought its collection of historic paintings would be safe.
"We just couldn't imagine the water would go that high," said Maggie Fletcher, manager of Warmun Art Centre in a remote region of the Kimberley.

"There were about 400 (works from Warmun's pioneering artists) in a back room and just about everything got some kind of water damage. Some paintings ended up on the ground in the mud, and they were pretty badly damaged."

Shortly after the floods, the University of Melbourne transported 187 damaged paintings from Warmun to its Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, where they were stabilised.

In Melbourne this week, Patrick Mung Mung said he was happy to see one particular work, painted by his father, restored to its original state.

 ...The untitled painting, by George Mung Mung, is part of the archival collection of works by Warmun's early artists, including Hector Jandany, Queenie McKenzie, Paddy Jaminji and Jack Brittain.

Patrick Mung Mung, himself an artist, said the staff at the centre had done a good job of repairing his father's painting, which had been covered in mould and mud after the floods.

"I think it's all right. They washed all of it off and it's still the same," he said.

The work tells the story of a massacre at Horse Creek, east of Warmun. "In that place a lot of people got killed - they were burned," Mung Mung said.

On Tuesday night, Mung Mung and three other Gija elders arrived in Melbourne to give cultural advice on the restoration of the works.

The elders will also attend a fundraising dinner at the University of Melbourne tonight.

Ms Fletcher said about $100,000 was needed to finish restoring the collection and return it to Warmun.

"(The paintings) were done to show the children. They want them back to keep telling their children because now those old people who did them aren't with us any more," she said. "They're talking about having a big corroboree when the collection comes back to Warmun."

A work by Patrick Mung Mung will also go under the hammer on November 13 at Stills Gallery in Sydney, in an auction held by the Aboriginal Benefits Foundation to raise money for the art centre.

"We are getting a new building put up for the collection, so it's up high and safe," Ms Fletcher said.

"But we need money to fit the building out."

Mung Mung was working as a stockman when his father was painting. He started making his own art in 1998.

When the art centre was inundated, a number of Mung Mung's works were in the main gallery, which was flooded. "None of (Patrick's) works were actually lost and there's been a few that he's been able to repair," Ms Fletcher said. "There was one that I thought was gone but I found it stuck in between a table and a fence. He has fixed it up and it looks terrific."

Article by: Bridget Cormack From: The Australian, October 21, 2011 12:00AM

Good, Strong, Powerful!  National Gallery of Australia is showing works by Kukula  and others from Mwerre Anthurre artists in this show which runs until 15 January 2010.  Check out these fascinating naive artworks by indigenous artists across Australia - all with some form of disability.  You might like to check out the NGA's downloadable fact sheet too.

At Kate Owen Gallery, we have a number of Kukula's artworks in stock... and being very impressed by her works and those of fellow artists Adrian Robertson and Billy Kenda, we featured an exhibition of works from her art centre earlier this year.  Kukula McDonald's works are presently focused on the wild black cockatoos of the Australian bush, and she captures the character and spirit of these unique birds perfectly  (not an easy task, as many an artist who has attempted it can tell you!) 

Kukula spends her life in a wheelchair and the first focus of her artwork was just that - Wheelchairs!  She painted them relentlessly and it is said that she knows every make and model of every wheelchair owned by an aboriginal person throughout the country!

Now her focus is on the black cockatoos and their environment.  A poignant subject as well, given that birds in artworks often represent a subconscious yearning for freedom.  Her works are a unique and delightful representation of these cheeky outback characters by a gifted and plucky artist.  

Despite occurring some time ago we here at Kate Owen Gallery are still very, very impressed with this effort by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers: in 2005 20 women spent 3 weeks to create a weaved model of a Toyota.  Measuring in at 4 x 2 m the work was entirely created out of raffia, grass, jute string, chicken wire and steel!  The work went on to claim first prize at the prestigious Telstra Art Award (for 2005).  With judges Doug Hall (Director of the Queensland Art Gallery) and visual artist Destiny Deacon remarking that “Tjanpi Grass Toyota…is a wonderfully witty, well-crafted and relevant work.  In one sense it takes us to the heart of community life and its tradition of weaving from grass that belongs to the women’s country.  On the other hand, this work not only recognises but also celebrates the four-wheel drive as central to desert living for Aboriginal people.”

Tjanpi Toyota, 2005, photo by Thisbe Purich ©Tjanpi Desert Weavers

While we (unfortunately!) do not stock any works by the weavers quite this large we do have a large range of works, of varying sizes.  Including goannas, lizards & snakes through to an assortment of bowls and small figures!  As per usual all works available in the gallery are listed on our website so feel free to check them out!

At the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, it's extraordinary - visit http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/yiwarra_kuju/ to see and read about it.  A most professionally presented range of work including many of the artists we sell, and many others we hope to stock in the near future.  If you have a chance to visit this show, make sure you do.  Not only for the stunning artworks but for all the supporting information about the project, the artists, the indigenous way of life, the meanings of the artworks and more....

If you can't get to see the exhibition, visit the Museum website - there's plenty to read and see. It's all interesting. 

 
photograph from National Museum of Australia website; Photo by Tim Acker.

'It used to be blackfella Country before they built the wells. Today it's a kartiya highway. Before it used to be Aboriginal people's land, our Jukurrpa (Dreaming), waterholes, jumu (soakwaters) and jila (springs). Blackfellas used to walk around — foot-walk — not with a camel. When they saw camels and horses they'd get frightened and run away. Martu people got shot in that Country, and at Kulyayi (Well 42) Wangkajunga people got killed.
Canning made a mess of the wells and Dreaming tracks and sacred sites and law sites. He used blackfellas to get where he wanted to go, to make his mark. So it's about kartiya coming and making that line of wells.
But in another way, all those wells opened up our Country for people to travel back to Country with their kids. Because if you didn't do that the Country would be lost. Now it's easier to get to Country. We've got our own story there, two ways.
We're all family. All the stories are about how all the families got scattered across the Western Desert. And at the nine art centres, we're all related. From Wiluna and Kiwirrkurra and Balgo, Mulan, and Martu Country. From Nyarna (Lake Stretch) right down to Wiluna. Our ancestors walked that land. The Canning Stock Route forced all the people to all different places. ' 

excerpt from Aust National Museum website.