William King Jungala | 'Fire, 2005' | 30x60cm

Code: DDWK05202

Artist: William King Jungala

Title: Fire

Area: Katherine, NT

Community: Gurindji / Waanyi

Medium: Acrylic On Linen

Size: 30x60cm

Year: 2005

William King Jungala's Fire works come from one of the four elemental subjects that ran through his practice alongside water, earth and air, the forces his people worked to live in balance with. Fire Dreaming carries the stories of how fire was created and brought under control, and the ongoing practice of fire management across Country, burning to renew the land rather than destroy it. Jungala learned these stories as a boy, carried between his Waanyi father and his Gurindji grandfather, a desert elder who passed on the knowledge of Country that shaped everything he later painted.

William King Jungala was born in Katherine, Northern Territory, a proud member of the Gurindji people, whose skin name was Jungala. His deep cultural grounding came from early childhood spent with his father, of the Waanyi people, and his grandfather, a well-travelled Gurindji desert elder who passed down the stories and knowledge of Country that would shape his worldview and his art. At eighteen he moved to Adelaide and completed an apprenticeship in carpentry, but his true passion remained painting, and by 1994 he had committed to it fully. He developed a distinctive style blending traditional Aboriginal symbolism with a contemporary, urban aesthetic, and his characteristic use of circular motion expressed his belief that nothing has a beginning or an end, a visual statement of the interconnectedness of life, nature and time. His work drew heavily on his connection to land and culture, often working through fire, air, earth and water, symbolic of the harmony his people sought with natural forces. His work was selected for exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in British Columbia during the 1994 Commonwealth Games, and he exhibited widely across Australia with works collected internationally. His paintings continue to resonate for their depth, detail and spiritual intensity.