This painting shows the full-length figure of a Kayara-type Being usually associated with artists from the coastal Wunambal people of the northwest Kimberley. The style is familiar through the works of artists such as Mickey Bungkani and his 'son' Watty Karrawarra and it may - if the time of acquisition is correct - be by the former artist.

The head is defined free of the neck, and the nose is reduced to a simple vertical line separating the eyes. A hairbelt (ngunuru) is defined over the hips, and elbows, knees and feet and toesclearly indicated in charcoal. The Wunambal artists defied the rays emanating around the head as the hair (jakera) of the being, while the enclosing arc was a rainbow. The hair itself represent the sun's rays breaking out above a cloud (kayil).

Unusually, the oval feature representing the heart, soul spirit or a pearl shell ornament, normally shown on the chest, is absent in this painting. The upper body is infilled with vertical striping, whilst below the waist a stippled infill dominates - both types of infill are used to represent falling rain.

Above the left shoulder of the Kayara is painted a lizard or goanna. Beneath the right arm is depicted a hooked beaked bird, possibly an eagle, but equally could represent a cockatoo, various species of which also feature in Kimberley mythology.

Continue Reading +