Sade Carrington and April Nulgit / Wandjina Gija Man (1A)

A beautiful collaboration between Grandmother and Granddaughter – their first ever!

SADE CARRINGTON

Sade was born Texas Downs Station, East Kimberley in 1957.  Sade was sent to school at Beagle Bay when she was four, then to Perth to complete her education.  She worked in the homestead at Texas until 1980, when she joined her relatives at Warmun (Turkey Creek).  Sade had married Churchill Cann, then head stockman at Texas and now an Internationally known Artist.  They have three children – Dolorosa, Glen and Charlene – Charlene is now an International Artist in her own right.

Sade travelled extensively with her art, both throughout Australia and overseas.  In 1988 she was invited to present her painting to the Duchess of Kent during Her Highness’ visit to Adelaide.  Sade has exhibited in London and The Netherlands and was invited to stay for six months at Galleries in Holland to demonstrate her technique in ochre painting.  There, she exhibited successfully against artists in all mediums.  On returning to Australia, her daughter Myria (named after Sade’s mother Betty Carrington) was born in Darwin where she still lives with her French father.

Her fondest childhood memories are those of accompanying her father, Beerbee Mungnari, and the late Henry Wambini and Jack Britten on their painting expeditions.  In those days women and children were not taken to paint in the Bungles, but Jack would say “Let her come – she’s no trouble”.

APRIL NULGIT

April Nulgit was born on the 11th April 1995, in an ambulance on the way from Warmun Community to Kununurra Hospital. She is the eldest child of Charlene Carrington and Wayne Nulgit. April is Gija on her mother’s side and Ngarinyin on her father’s side. This enables April to extend her artistic content to embrace both Gija land and her father’s country around Derby in the West Kimberley.

April is the youngest artist from one of the most talented families of Ochre Painters in the East Kimberley. Her great-grandmother Betty Carrington commenced painting late in life but is an established Senior artist; her Ganggayi (grandmother) Sade Carrington is an International Artist; her mother Charlene Carrington is one of the most outstanding of the Third Generation ochre artists. Her late grandfather Churchill Cann was known throughout the world and his paintings are included in the most important private and corporate collections. Her great-grandfather was Beerbee Mungnari, also of International standing and the last of the Elder Ochre Artists who painted with the likes of Rover Thomas, Jack Britten, Paddy Jampinji and George Mung Mung. April now forms the fourth generation of talented artists in her family.

April painted her first artwork for Artlandish when she was 9 years old, the painting was kept by the gallery and hangs proudly in their private collection. April had spent her childhood watching her talented family and it was obvious that this young girl had inherited their talent. Over the years April would paint for the gallery in school holidays, using the funds from her artworks to buy food for all the camp dogs at Warmun – this love of animals has remained and April hopes to one day work in the veterinary field.

The Carrington family are all from Texas Downs Station, to the East of Warmun Community, Turkey Creek. Texas Downs has produced an amazing number of famous Australian artists, and the family has passed the knowledge and Traditions of their country to the younger generations. April spends many weekends at Texas Downs with her family, which now includes her own beautiful little girl, Cheyenne. She remembers going to Texas as a little girl herself, and spending hours looking at the colours changing on the hills and thinking how lucky she was to call this place home.

In 2018, artworks by April were selected for the Revealedexhibition in Perth. Soon after she was represented in the hugely successful travelling exhibition Stories and Structures – New Connections.

April completed her high school education at St Mary’s College in Broome. She is an intelligent, talented young lady who has the world at her feet and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.

Old Paddy Runaway from Imintji (a remote community 200km’s from Derby, West Kimberley) told me this story – of how the spear was connected to the Wandjina.

The Gija man left Barramundi Dreaming Hill (located at Argyle Downs, East Kimberley) and set off on his journey. He left his spears at a hill on Texas Downs Station (now called Spear Hill) and continued to walk West to spread Gija language and Law. When he got to Imintji the tribe befriended him. He said he didn’t want trouble, he just wanted to spread Gija law and culture. A few of the men didn’t like it so they killed him. Because of this, that’s where the Gija language, law and culture stops – at Imintji, in the West Kimberley. They called him the Wandjina Gija Man.

While Sade and April’s mother Charlene Carrington are Gija, April’s father’s country is the West Kimberley, so she can paint both Gija country and Ngarinyin country.