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An Icon of the Kimberly

 

Lily Karedada lives at Kalumburu in the far north of the Kimberley. She was born around 1937 on her father's country around the Prince Regent River, called Woomban-goo-wan-gorr. Both her parents led a traditional life and were Wunambal language speakers. She belongs to the Jirrengger (owlet nightjar bird) moiety and her specific totems are the turkey, possum and white cockatoo.

Lily's "bush" name is Mindindil, which means "bubbles". This was given to her a few hours after her birth. It refers to an event when her father looked into the water of a spring and saw bubbles rising. He announced "Ah! What this one here, he come out bubble? Ah! Might be kid!".

As a baby, she was carried in a bark coolamon, similar to those which she still makes today. She grew up eating bush tucker such as kangaroo, yams, wild honey, fish and goannas. Lily's father passed way while she was quite young.

When she reached her teenage years, her mother took their family to country called Giboolday on the Mitchell Plateau. There she met and married Jack Karedada, and together they have had ten children. Lily and Jack left the bush and moved to Kalumburu during World War II where she helped the nuns at the Mission to plant mango and coconut trees. Lily and Jack both live in Kalumburu where they paint Wandjina images and images of bush food.

Aboriginal artists from Kalumburu, including Lily and Jack and other members of the Karedada family, continue to use traditional ochre pigments that are gathered from the creek beds, and use glue from particular trees as binder.

Judith Ryan and Kim Akerman, in the definitive book on Kimberley art "Images of Power", have described Lily's style as follows: "Lily specialises in representations of Wandjina executed in a refined style, full of subtle tonal variations. Sometimes the Wandjina is shown emerging from a veil of dots (rain) which also inundate his body. Both the outlines and the dotting are far more precise than the vigorous gestural marks of sister-in-law Roslyn Karedada. A dotted ground is also characteristic of Lily's depiction of totemic species and the natural features of her country."

 

Selected Bibliography:

McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 78

Ryan, Judith, with Kim Akerman. Images of Power - Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley. National Gallery of Victoria.

 

 

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