Ancient indigenous art back in vogue

Written on the 29 August 2016

For Daniel Walbidi, the art centre at the Kimberley coastal settlement of Bidyadanga, a two-hour drive south of Broome, is more than a place where people can paint.

"It is is a learning place where you also learn about the culture and the history," Walbidi says. "It is a store house for the artists, a safe place to be and it brings in money for the community."

One of Australia's finest contemporary artists, Walbidi was the scrawny 16-year-old Yulparija kid who sparked an art movement in 1999 when he walked into Broome's Short Street Gallery and asked owner Emily Rohr for painting supplies.

His actions inspired his Yulparija elders in their 70s and 80s to start painting the stories of their ancestral desert lands they had left more than 40 years prior.

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Source: The West Australian, Stephen Bevis

Image: Daniel Walbidi: painting category winner of 2014 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.