Bruce Wiggin

Bardi Elder
One Arm Point, Kimberley, WA

Senior Bardi man Bruce Wiggan was born at a mission on Iwany (Sunday Island), off the Dampier Peninsula coast, north of Broome, Western Australia.

He shares custodianship of many sacred and ceremonial stories associated with the Bardi people and their ocean culture.

While his mother was pregnant with him, Bruce’s father speared a Dugong. Bruce was born with a mark on his body, on the very same side of his stomach.

Bruce is an artist renowned for his skills in carving Riji, (pearl shells) a sacred object from the West Kimberley associated with water, spiritual powers and healing. Using pearl as his canvas, this Master carver’s works can be found in many national and international art collections.

Only Aboriginal men from the Kimberley region, initiated to the highest level wore decorated Riji at ceremonies. These shells were incised with sacred patterns or tribal insignia, the designs carved using kangaroo jawbones and stained with red ochre.

Riji were considered of great value and traded with inland Aboriginal people along ancient trade routes across the continent. His family were among the first Australians to successfully culture South Sea pearls.

Bruce is a conduit of the knowledge and traditions passed down through many generations, including artisan skills shared by his father Tom, a Bardi elder.

Today Bruce is himself a Bardi elder, and he continues to maintain cultural customs through his contemporary Riji engravings, etching stories connecting the past with the present and ensuring they will have a place in the future.

Artist: Russell James

Size: 152cm x 152cm

Medium: Canvas

Artist: Russell James

Size: 304cm x 152cm

Medium: Canvas