Wintaku - David Brown Jangala

In this painting, David Brown Jangala depicts Wintaku, a sacred site east of Kiwirrkurra in the Northern Territory. It is a place deeply tied to his family and memory. After heavy rains, water flows down the surrounding hills—each of which holds ancestral meaning. The three hills in the foreground represent his grandmothers, while the two behind them are his grandfathers. Through carefully layered dotting and a subtle reading of form and space, Brown renders this landscape not just as terrain, but as kin—a living presence of his elders and their stories.

“This is the area east of Kiwirrkurra,” he says. “On the south west side, after big rain, you can see water streaming off the hills. These hills are my grandfathers and grandmothers.” As a child, Brown travelled this land with his father, who passed down the stories held in Country. Now living away from his homeland, painting is his way of staying connected—of remembering, honouring, and keeping the land strong. This work is not just a depiction of place, but a continuation of cultural practice and a personal act of care for Country and its ancestors.