Melissa Waina / Gwion Gwion Rock Art (MW19)

Melissa was born in Derby in 1984 and is the daughter of the late Kevin Waina and Bernadette Waina – she has lived all her life in Kalumburu.

Her father was an Internationally known painter, specialising in Bradshaw (Gwion Gwion) Art. Melissa has inherited his talent, and she is sure to have a wonderful future in this very definitive style of “rock art” painting.

Interest in the magnificent and mystical rock art in the area where Melissa and her family live, along with the famous Karadada family, has escalated in the last few years. Both families paint these hauntingly beautiful images, with Lily Karadada arguably the most famous of the Wandjina painters. The Wandjina Rain God appears alongside the Gwion Gwion figures in the Mitchell Plateau and Gibb River regions of the Far North East Kimberley region of Western Australia. The incredibly large amount of scientific research carried out in an attempt to analyse the phenomena of these carvings leave much to be learned. However, the Aboriginal people of the area proudly transpose these figures to canvas and eucalyptus bark with wonderful accuracy.

I have painted this work as the figures appear on the escarpment rock face and in the caves in the Gwini (pronounced Kwini) area of Kalumburu. The Gwion Gwions in this area are happy figures, and almost appear to be dancing. The Wandjina is the Rain God, the giver of life for humans and animals. We live in harmony with all of them. We ask the Bradshaw (Gwion) God for guidance to the best places for hunting, and pray the Wandjina will send down good rains – plenty of food for everyone.