Gemma Unghango / Gwion Gwion Rock Art (GU218)

Gemma Unghango was born at Kalumburu in 1961 and is a Gaambera woman of the north Kimberley. Her mother was Gaambera and her father was from the Wullumbi people. Gemma has lived at Kalumburu throughout her life and grew up at the historic Kalumburu Mission, where she was raised by the Benedictine nuns and later worked in the mission gardens, kitchen and bakery.

A quietly spoken and gentle woman, Gemma is a mother of five and has been painting since the mid 1990s. Her early works were sold through the Kalumburu Museum, and she has also contributed paintings to the Kalumburu Catholic Church. Gemma recalls being encouraged to paint by one of the priests at the mission, helping begin an artistic practice that has continued for many years.

Gemma is particularly known for her paintings of Gwion Gwion. These elegant ancestral figures are found throughout the ancient rock shelters of the north Kimberley and are an important part of the cultural landscape of her Country. Her paintings often feature groups of slender figures with long limbs, elaborate headdresses, body adornments and implements, creating a strong sense of movement, gathering and activity.

She also paints Wandjina and other imagery connected with the rock art and cultural traditions of the north Kimberley. Through these works Gemma brings imagery deeply embedded in the landscape around Kalumburu into contemporary painting, maintaining a connection between Country, ancestral stories and generations of cultural knowledge.

Gemma’s work has been included in a number of exhibitions, including Connection to Country in 2018, Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists at Fremantle Arts Centre in 2019, In Ochre and Our Land: Our Place in 2019, and Across the Water in South Fremantle in 2024. She also illustrated Father Anscar McPhee’s 2011 book A Hero in the Night Time of the Dreaming: The Story of Penda Gudje.

Throughout the sandstone country of the north Kimberley, ancient rock shelters contain figures known as Gwion Gwion. Their distinctive elongated bodies, graceful limbs, elaborate headdresses and finely detailed adornments make them one of the most recognisable rock art traditions of the Kimberley.

Within the cultural traditions of the region, the Gwion Gwion are important ancestral and spiritual figures. They are associated with hunting, dancing and ceremony and with the passing on of knowledge about Country, food, seasons, medicine, song and cultural Law. They are also closely connected with the Wandjina tradition and are sometimes described as helpers of the Wandjina.

Gemma Unghango has painted Gwion Gwion for many years. Her distinctive figures often appear gathered together, carrying implements or moving across the composition with their characteristic long limbs and decorated bodies.

For Gemma, these figures belong to the Country and cultural traditions in which she was raised. Her paintings bring the imagery of the ancient rock shelters surrounding Kalumburu into a contemporary form, continuing an enduring connection between people, Country and ancestral knowledge.