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About Warmun Arts Centre
Warmun artists are renowned for their use of natural ochre and pigments on canvas, which is integral to the contemporary expression of land and culture as identity for Gija people. The work of Warmun artists’ is an inseparable and celebratory part of Gija culture and country, and draws on traditional Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) stories and contemporary life. Warmun art has a national and international reputation thanks to the leadership of highly successful Warmun artists like Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie, George Mung Mung and Paddy Jaminji.
Now internationally renowned painters Lena Nyadbi, Patrick Mung Mung, Mabel Juli, Shirley Purdie, Madigan Thomas, Gordon Barney, Phyllis Thomas, Churchill Cann and Betty Carrington lead the way for a group of more than sixty emerging and younger artists currently painting for the art centre.
This new generation of Warmun artists works with the same, time-honoured materials and stories. The emerging works display a fresh, original and vibrant style that transcends cultural boundaries and places many Warmun artists at the forefront of contemporary art in Australia.
Painted using traditional ochres
Warmun paintings are truly of the country. They are composed of the many colours which are hand-collected from the surrounding ranges, creek beds, savannah and gorges here in the East Kimberley. Gija artists paint their country using pigments and ochres from their land. Pigments are collected, crushed and mixed by the artists to create a luscious array of earthy tones. Inside the gallery, you can see close up the richness of the surface and the amazing range of different colours that can be achieved.
The process of producing the handmade paint from ochre is a social activity. In Warmun, artists pound the ochres by hand in a mortar and pestle. It is steady work with a comfortable rhythm that can sound like a performance with clap sticks. The ochres are crushed and sifted into a fine powder, then blended with water and glue. Some artists make a thin paint wash with the ochre; others layer and contrast the textures to get a thick, tactile surface. The earliest artists at Warmun often used the sap from the Bloodwood tree. This was boiled up and mixed with the ground ochres to bind them together.
There are many symbolic elements in this practice which help to keep culture and tradition strong. The use of ochres from Gija country is one of the strengths of Warmun Art – whether on canvas or dancing bodies, the ochre is a repeating thread of cultural continuity. When the artists use these natural and locally sourced colours there is a direct link to their stories and their country. Painting helps maintain the artists’ cultural connection to their country and keeps stories alive in a rapidly changing environment. When you purchase an artwork from Warmun Art Centre you are in essence taking a piece of Gija country with you.
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