CCCSRI

Level 9

Madelene Purdie: Kilkayi

Madelene Purdie was born in Wyndham, attended Ngalangangpum primary school in Warmun then she completed her secondary education in Broome.

Madeline is the Chair of Warmun Community and is also the Manager of the Warmun Aged Care program.

Purdie takes her traditional country as the subject of her paintings including her mother, Shirley Purdie’s country. She also paints Ngarranggarni stories from her grandmother and grandfather’s country in Norton Bore, Violet Valley and Argyle. She continues to paint the Ngarranggarni stories told to her by her older family members.

Madeline is also an accomplished carver and makes bird sculptures from boab nuts and jarlalu wood.

Patrick Mung Mung: Ngarrgooroon Country

This painting shows Patrick’s family’s country - Ngarrgoorroon. Ngarrgoorroon is located north of the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park). The country is full of hilly terrain, waterholes and some areas of flat country. The artist still spends most weekends out bush with his family - children and grandchildren - camping, fishing and hunting for bush tucker. Patrick is committed to teaching his grandchildren the ‘bush ways’.

Patrick Mung Mung (born c.1948) is a senior artist and Elder from the East Kimberley in Western Australia.

Painting with natural pigments on canvas is a significant aspect of his art practice. His knowledge of his country and his cultural memory of family, land and work are powerful influences in his work. Like his late father, George Mung Mung, he is a strong cross-cultural communicator. Mung Mung’s work is influenced by the previous generation of Warmun artists for their raw directness and composition; these artists include Rover Thomas and Paddy Jaminji.

In 1991 following his father’s death, it fell to Mung Mung to accompany his father’s carving Mary of Warmun to Canberra for the exhibition Aboriginal Art and Spirituality at the High Court of Australia. This occasion marked the beginning of a journey for Mung Mung, which was to see him take on his father’s role of senior artist, law and culture man.