page_title: Wandjina
section_title: Traditional rock artwork
hierarchical_section_title: Wandjina / Traditional rock artwork
caption_attribution_description: Aboriginal rock art on the Barnett River, Mount Elizabeth Station
context_page_description: The Wandjina are cloud and rain spirits from Australian Aboriginal mythology that are depicted prominently in rock art in Australia. Some of the artwork in the Kimberley region of Western Australia dates back to approximately 4,000 years ago.
  The stories of the Wandjina and the artwork depicting them remain important to the Mowanjum Community of Indigenous people.
  Wandjina were the inspiration for a 1966 children's fantasy television series, Wandjina!, produced by ABC Television in 1966.
context_section_description: The broad-stroke artwork of the Wandjina rock art dates to around 3800–4000 years ago. The emergence of this art style follows the end of a millennium-long drought that gave way to a wetter climate characterised by regular monsoons.
  The Wandjina paintings have common colors of black, red and yellow on a white background. The spirits are depicted alone or in groups, vertically or horizontally depending on the dimensions of the rock, and are sometimes depicted with figures and objects like the Rainbow Serpent or yams. Common composition is with large upper bodies and heads that may show eyes and nose, but typically no mouth.  Two explanations have been given for this: they are so powerful they do not require speech and if they had mouths, the rain would never cease. Around the heads of Wandjina are lines or blocks of color, depicting lighting coming out of transparent helmets.
  Today, the paintings are still believed to possess these powers and therefore are to be approached and treated respectfully.  Each site and painting has a name.
  Indigenous people of the Mowanjum Community repaint the images to ensure the continuity of the Wandjina's presence.
  Annual repainting in December or January also ensures the arrival of the monsoon rains, according to Mowanjum belief.
  Repainting has occurred so often that at one site the paint is over 40 layers deep.  The painting style has evolved during this process: more recent figures are stockier and some now possess eyelashes.
caption: Wandjina rock art on the Barnett River, Mount Elizabeth Station
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