AUCTION | Aboriginal Works of Art | 4 June 2019

LOT #31 Lily Karadada (c.1937- ) Wandjina, 2002 120 x 160 cm natural earth pigments on Belgian linen $8,000 - 12,000 PROVENANCE Narrangunny Art Traders, WA Cat No. N-2160-LK Cooee Art Gallery, NSW Cat No. 9926 Private Collection, NSW EXHIBITION HISTORY Lily Karadada - The last of the great Wandjina painters, April 2011, Cooee Art Gallery, NSW Widely regarded as the last of the great Wandjina painters from the Kimberley in north west Australia, Lily Karedada was born near the Prince Regent River surrounded by caves and rock galleries. Here it is believed that during the creation period the Wandjina lay down leaving their life giving essence in the caves as they returned to their home in the clouds. Wandjina bring the monsoon rains and fertility to the land. They are usually shown either in groups or surrounded by associated totemic species. Always depicted frontally, their large eyes dominate in a mouthless face, sometimes on top of a simple robe-like body. Radiating lines around the eyes or in a halo around the head represent the lightning that heralds a storm. The first lightning strike renders their mouths tightly closed. If their mouths were left open, we are told, it would rain incessantly, carrying everything away in a torrent.