Donny Woolagoodja, chairman of Mowanjum Artists Spirit of the Wandjina Aboriginal Corporation (MASWAC) was born in 1947 in Kunmunya. His language group is Worora. He is the fourth eldest of ten children. His father, Sam, was the last of the Worora banmen (lawman and medicine man).
Donny's remarkable upbringing bridges the white Christian beliefs of which he became aware at the mission churches, and the ancient Wandjina laws his father taught him. It allows him to move easily between his Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people. The influence of his father and grandfather can be seen in Donny's art, which illustrates the many stories of the land to which he belongs.
Soon to be a fully certified teacher of fine art, majoring in Aboriginal Art, Donny was a finalist in the 1999 Telstra National Indigenous Art Award and won the WA State Images Art Award 2000. He also won first prize in the 2004 Kimberley Arts competition. His work was a feature of the Sydney Olympic Games opening ceremony.
For the Mowanjum Community, seeing their beloved Wandjina in the Awakening segment of the Sydney 2000 Olympics opening ceremony was intensely emotional. Segment director Rhoda Roberts asked Donny Woolagoodja, designer of the Wandjina, how he felt about 3.5 billion people seeing Namarali. Donny replied, 'very happy, and sad. This was his grandfather's spirit, his father's spirit going out to the world, he hoped that the world would look after it' (The Bulletin, September 26, 2000).
Donny, a driving force behind the Mowanjum movement, is committed to ensuring the survival of the Wandjina culture:
"The Wandjinas belonged to people long before our time. They created our laws. We still have to obey these laws. The young people at Mowanjum know their culture. My advice to them is to keep it going. If they don't, the Wandjina will die away, just like people die away. That's why we are painting Wandjinas now. If white people have a Wandjina, that Wandjina can bring them a good life if they treat it with respect. They should look at it a lot. The spirit is in there. In the old days, only very special men could paint the Wandjina but now we are the only ones left to paint him to keep his spirit alive. It's his last and only chance."
