Gabriella Barunga

Gabriella commenced her career as an artist in 1999 at Mowanjum Art and Culture Centre and of painting she says is “my work and my way of telling a story”.

Gabriella is a Ngarinyin woman and paints the Wandjina from the Wanalirri mob. She grew up with her parents Biddy Ambi and Raphael Dolbyin at Bungarun, the leprosarium 10km’s out of Derby. Jack and Biddy Dale also cared for her. Gabriella recounts, “ used to take us bush in the holidays. We went fishing and hunting kangaroos, snakes, turtles, and crocodiles.”

Gabriella says she paints, “to keep the culture going, keep it strong, keep it going for the children and grandchildren.”