I AM BORN AND BRED ON THE TIWI ISLANDS AND IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ME TO BE LIVING IN MILIKAPI AND MAKING ART ABOUT MY CULTURE.

My Country is Pickataramoor. We get the yellow ochre there and we burn it on the fire to make it red. I feel happy working with ochres, it makes me feel good because they have come from my country. The old people they do it from long time ago, before they pass away they pass it over for us – the new generation.

I paint suns, sitting around the fire, my families’ different countries on the Tiwi islands and Jaliwaki (bush potato). They find jaliwaki around Paru and Pirlingimpi, it’s not the cheeky bush potato, you can eat it. The old people still eat it. Bush potato and tunga are my favourite things to paint because they are Tiwi… I like painting with ochre colours for the same reason, they are Tiwi and come from the island that I live.