Bobyin Nongah Aboriginal artist
Bobyin Nongah was an aboriginal artist working in Wadeye (Port Keats) in the 1960s and 1970s. His main dreaming and subject of most of his paintings is the rainbow serpent or Kunmanggur.
If you have a painting on bark by Bobyin Nongah then I would love to see it. Please send me an image and I will be happy to give you a value or even offer to buy it
Artstyle & Biography of Bobyin Nongah
I can not find any information on this artist. It is likely that he spoke Murinbata language because some of his paintings are called Kunmanggur. Kunmanggur is the rainbow serpent and it is likely he was guardian of this dreaming.
Almost all of Bobyin Nongah’s art is a set of concentric circles which morphs into a serpents head. The concentric circle is the sacred symbol of a water hole in which the rainbow serpent dwells. This sacred sight is the rainbow serpent and also where the rainbow serpent emerges.
The concentric circle iconography is also used in central Australian art. Aboriginals in the Wadeye region share language and art similarities because their clans moved to the coast from this area.
Articles on Port Keats and Wadeye art and information can be very hard to find. There is not a lot of information on the art of early artists like Nym Bunduk Indji or Charlie Mardigan. This area had very little recorded about the wonderful artists working here in the 1960s. If you know more about any of these artists please contact me. I would love to be able to present a fuller picture of the artist’s life.
Further reading
Other Port Keats Art and Artists
All images in this article are for educational purposes only.
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Charlie Brinken artwork Images
The following images are of the Artwork of Charlie Brinken Newili. It is not a complete list of his works. They do however give a good idea of the style and above all the variety of this Aboriginal Artist.
