Mickey Bungkuni: Old School Wandjina Bark Painting in the Wunambal Tradition
Among the most compelling figures in the field of Aboriginal bark painting, Mickey Bungkuni stands as a deeply respected Elder and cultural custodian within the Wunambal-speaking communities of the northern Kimberley region. A senior lawman, ceremonial leader, and artist of great reverence, Bungkuni’s work bridges the sacred permanence of ancient rock art with the more transportable medium of bark. His oeuvre, while modest in scale, is profoundly significant in style, cultural lineage, and market interest.
For collectors, curators, and scholars alike, the name Mickey Bungkuni evokes not only a high standard of craftsmanship but also a direct and unbroken connection to Wandjina ancestral traditions. His bark paintings remain rare and highly sought-after examples of inland Kimberley visual culture.
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Identifying an Authentic Mickey Bungkuni Bark Painting
For those who suspect they may possess an original bark painting by Mickey Bungkuni, careful stylistic comparison is the most reliable method of attribution. Bungkuni’s work is notable for its adherence to the inland Wunambal Wandjina style, distinct from the more coastal variations.
Stylistic Characteristics
- Wandjina Iconography: Bungkuni’s Wandjina figures are rendered with a striking balance of refinement and spiritual power. They are typically full-bodied, standing in solemn stillness, their forms coated in dense patterns of red ochre dots—a signature element across many of his works.
- Headdress Motifs: Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of his Wandjina paintings is the large fan-shaped headdress, radiating vertical lines of ochre and white. This differs markedly from the rounded halos common in coastal Wandjina representations, and reflects the inland traditions of the Hunter River basin, from which Bungkuni drew cultural authority.
- Facial Features: Bungkuni’s figures often display small, tightly drawn eyes and noses, with finely articulated hands and feet. Unlike some related artists, his Wandjina figures typically omit eyelashes, while occasionally including softly arched eyebrows, giving his subjects a quiet, dignified presence.
- Ground and Medium: His barks are painted with natural ochres on a white background, using thick, rough-cut bark, typical of the Kimberley region. This thick bark often has knots and a crinkled texture. This physicality lends the work an earthy authenticity prized by collectors.
- Other Mediums In addition to bark, Bungkuni also painted on coolamons, and carved boab nuts, expanding his expression of Wunambal cosmology into other media.
Cultural and Ancestral Legacy
Born circa 1902 and passing in 1978, Mickey Bungkuni lived much of his life in and around Mowanjum, an important Aboriginal community near Derby in Western Australia. He was a fully initiated man and a senior Elder within the Wunambal tradition, actively involved in repainting Wandjina figures in remote rock shelters for ceremonial renewal.
Bungkuni’s Wandjina paintings were not created purely for aesthetic purposes—they are spiritual documents, bearing the ancestral presence of beings believed to have shaped the land and later become part of it. In the Wunambal worldview, these ancestral spirits lay down in rock shelters, merging with the landscape, and Bungkuni’s practice of transferring this sacred imagery onto bark reflects both reverence and innovation.
This floral reference is not incidental; in Aboriginal cosmology, clan identities are often rooted in specific landscape features, flora, or fauna, each carrying ancestral narratives and spiritual obligations. The Landar name thus speaks to Bungkuni’s custodianship of specific ecological and mythological knowledge within the Wunambal cultural bloc of the northwest Kimberley.
In addition to his clan name, Mickey Bungkuni held the Brolga (karangkuli) as his patrilineal moiety totem—a core spiritual identity inherited through his father’s line. The Brolga, known for its stately dance and long-legged elegance, features heavily in ceremonial life and Dreaming narratives across northern Australia. For Bungkuni, this totem represented not just an ancestral affiliation but a guiding presence that influenced his worldview, ceremonial obligations, and likely, his artistic choices
Of note is his influence on the next generation—Wattie Karruwara, a highly regarded painter in his own right, was effectively Bungkuni’s protégé and referred to him as a second father. The visual similarities between their works are unmistakable and reflect a shared lineage of cultural transmission and artistic mentorship.
He was an early generation of Wandjina painters on bark working before more famous artist like like Charlie Numbelmoore and Alec Mingelmanganu
Mickey Bungkuni is also sometimes called Mickey Bunguna
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Yam Bark painting
This rare Yam Painting by Mickey Bungkuni, senior Wunambal lawman and renowned Wandjina painter, dates to the early 1960s. The irregular, rough-cut bark surface—typical of pre-1964 works—suggests it was created before anthropologist John McCaffrey introduced prepared boards to artists in the Mowanjum community.
Stylistically, the composition closely echoes a work by Bungkuni’s nephew, Wattie Karruwarra, painted for McCaffrey and sold at Sotheby’s (2003, Lot 17). Both depict karnmangku yams (Dioscorea transversa), a staple bush food and spiritually significant plant. Similar yam forms appear in local rock art, reinforcing the cultural continuity between sacred sites and portable art.
As a senior custodian, Bungkuni held the right to depict ancestral plant beings. This piece—expressed in delicate ochre forms—blends ecological knowledge with ceremonial importance.
The Aboriginal artefact value of this work is enhanced by its age, rarity, and cultural authenticity. Early bark paintings by Bungkuni are exceptionally scarce and increasingly sought after by collectors and institutions.
Mickey Bungkuni Bark Painting Images
The following images are not a complete list of works by Mickey Bungkuni but give a good feel for the variety and style of this artist.
