WARINGARRI ABORIGINAL ARTS
22174005047
Status: Stock White Gum Tree The red sap is good medicine to treat skin sores. It is crushed and boiled in water to make it soft, then rubbed on the sore to help with healing. Read more…
Name: Mercy Fredericks
Language: Ngarinyin
Community: Kalumburu
Biography:
"I was born here in the Kalumburu convent and my parents grew me up until my mother got sick and couldn’t look after me. I was on the other side of the river with the wild mob and then I moved to the convent and the nuns looked after me. I worked in the bakery making bread, cooking, sewing and I used to milk cows and nanny goats. I left the mission to work for the corporation in 1983. I started working for the aged care program and then for Community Justice and am on the council.”
Mercy began painting and engraving barks in 2009. She quickly gained recognition for her distinct Wandjina barks and fine textured ochre paintings. She sadly passed away in 2015 in Kalumburu with her family after a year of fighting cancer and leaves behind six children and three grandchildren.