Donny Woolagoodja | |
---|---|
Born | 1947 |
Died | 2022 |
Other names | Yornadaiyn Woolagoodja |
Awards | Red Ochre Award |
Yornadaiyn (Donny) Woolagoodja (1947-2022) was an Aboriginal Australian artist. He was a member of the Worrorra people of the Kimberley area of Western Australia. [1]
Woolagoodja was the first chairman of the Mowanjum Artists Centre. [2] Woolagoodja's giant Wandjina artwork featured at the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. [2] Similar works were also featured at the 2016 Vivid Sydney festival's Lighting of the Sails celebration. [3]
Donny Woolagoodja was born in 1947 at the Kunmunya Mission on the Kimberley coast, the son of Sam Woolagoodja. [1] Woolagoodja died in 2022 aged 75. [4]
The Wandjina, also written Wanjina and Wondjina and also known as Gulingi, are cloud and rain spirits from the Wanjina Wunggurr cultural bloc of Aboriginal Australians, depicted prominently in rock art in northwestern Australia. Some of the artwork in the Kimberley region of Western Australia dates back to approximately 4,000 years ago. Another closely related spirit entity is the creator being Wunngurr, a being analogous to the Rainbow Serpent in other Aboriginal peoples' belief systems, but with a different interpretation.
The Gwion Gwion rock paintings, Gwion figures, Kiro Kiro or Kujon are one of the two major regional traditions of rock art found in the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia. Key traditional owners have published their own account of the meaning of the images. However the identity of the artists and the age of the art are contended within archaeology and amongst Australian rock art researchers. A 2020 study estimates that most of the anthropomorphic figures were created 12,000 years ago, based on analysis of painted-over wasps' nests. These aspects have been debated since the works were seen, and recorded, in 1891 by pastoralist Joseph Bradshaw, after whom they were named until recent decades. As the Kimberley is home to many traditional owners, the rock art is referred to and known by many different names in the local languages, the most common of which are Gwion Gwion or Kiro Kiro/Giro Giro. The art consists primarily of human figures ornamented with accessories such as bags, tassels and headdresses.
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