Mangkaja is an Aboriginal owned art centre situated in Fitzroy Crossing, West Kimberley, Western Australia. Mangkaja is a Walmajarri word meaning 'wet weather shelter'. The art centre brings together artists from four main language groups including Wangkatjungka and Walmajarri from the Great Sandy Desert and Bunuba, and Gooniyandi from the river country around the Fitzroy Crossing valley.
The meeting of desert and river cultures has produced a unique range of strengths in their fine art and cultural artefacts. Mangkaja artists paint iconic singular images of country that tell essential stories of heritage and identity. Their paintings are characterised by a colourful, contemporary style featuring an uninhibited immediacy and large brush strokes. Mangkaja has produced a number of important international artists in the modern phase of Indigenous Australian art and is renowned for their collaborative canvasses.
© Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency, WA