Kunkurra (wind Dreaming)

Samuel Namundja, a member of a prominent Kuninjku family of artists, learnt to paint his ancestral stories from his father, the distinguished painter Peter Marralwanga. The finely applied rarrk (cross-hatching) of his bark paintings is reminiscent in style of the technique pioneered by his close relative John Mawurndjul. Innovative and prolific, Namundja was twice a category winner in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards and his work is held by all major state galleries.

Kunkurra, a major theme of his paintings, is the spiralling wind associated with the small cyclones common during the wet season in his western Arnhem Land home. It is also culturally connected with several sites belonging to his Kardbam clan, and particularly with Bilwoyinj, a place linked to initiation and the cyclical regeneration of humans and nature. In this work, his delicate rarrk creates a sense of movement to emphasise the swirling turbulence experienced around these significant places.