Bob WANURR NAMUNDJA - Nailfish, File Snakes

ADG: 896

Nailfish, File Snakes, 1997

85 x 30cm

Ochre (natural earth pigments) on bark from the Stringybark tree (Eucalyptus tetradonta)

Bob WANURR NAMUNDJA

1933 - 2004

Language Kunwinjku

Region Western Arnhem Land

Community Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), Northern Territory

Art centre Injalak Arts and Crafts Association

Local group Kardbam

Social affiliation Yirritja moiety, Nawakadj subsection

Subjects Ngalyod (Rainbow Serpent), barramundi, water pythons, rock, Ngalyod, lotus plants, echidna, prawns, crocodile,yam, nailfish, catfish, pandanus

Bob NAMUNDJA grew up in the bush around the Mankorlod region of western Arnhem Land. He spent much of his life travelling, participating in ceremonies and maintaining his extended kin network. In addition to this, he worked for three decades as a stockman (‘seemed more like one hundred years’). He and his wife Dianne settled with their four children in Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) in the 1970s when Bob took up painting as a career. Courtesy Injalak Arts and Crafts Association, Gunbalanya

Group Exhibitions

2006 L’art aborigène contemporain, Arts d’Australie, Stéphane Jacob / Médiathèque Cathédrale de Reims, Reims, France; Terre de Rêves, Terre des Hommes, Arts d'Australie, Stéphane Jacob / Musée de la Préhistoire, Bougon, France

2005 The Art of Two Brothers: Bob Wanur Namundja and Don Nakadilinj Namundja. Curated by Andrew Blake, Marrawuddi Gallery, Kakadu National Park, NT

2005 Terre de Rêves, Terre des Hommes, Arts d'Australie, Stéphane Jacob / Musée de la Préhistoire d’Île de France, Nemours, France; Terre de Rêves, Terre des Hommes, Arts d'Australie, Stéphane Jacob/Ambassade d’Australie, Paris, France

1984-85 Kunwinjku Bim, Western Arnhem Land Paintings from the collection of the Aboriginal Arts Board, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC

Collections

Australia Council Aboriginal Arts Board Collection , National Museum of Australia, Canberra

Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands

Bibliography

1979 Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council, Oenpelli Bark Painting, Ure Smith, Sydney

1984 Brody, A., Kunwinjku Bim: Western Arnhem Land Paintings from the Collection of the Aboriginal Arts Board, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne