Daniel Walbidi

Biography of Aboriginal Artist, Daniel Walbidi

"I paint to educate people about my culture and our history, and where we come from, so to give people understanding. I also paint so I can learn about my culture from the old people. It is important for me to paint so I can keep my culture strong and living so it can be carried on into the future." - Daniel Walbidi

Daniel Walbidi, a Mangala/Yulparitja man from Bidyadanga (La Grange Mission) on the north-western Australian coast, is one of a handful of prominent desert painters who have emerged from this region. Although the Yulparitja’s traditional lands lie in the far west of the Great Sandy Desert, the establishment of the La Grange Mission in 1956, 250 kilometres south-west from Broome, coincided with a widespread drought, and many Aboriginal people from the desert regions, including Walbidi’s parents, moved there.

Walbidi has lived his entire life at Bidyadanga, growing up hearing the Dreaming stories associated with the vast desert landscape, of the precious fresh waterholes filled with the 'living water' created by the ancestors. These waterholes are the resting places of these powerful spirits. As an artist, Walbidi began to depict these epic Dreaming narratives, building graphic images in his mind from a young age. He also studied some of the great Aboriginal artists—Albert Namatjira, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Emily Kam Kngwarray, and Rover Thomas—which influenced his artistic development.

Keen to ensure the stories of the old people at Bidyadanga would be documented prior to their passing, Walbidi took it upon himself at the age of 16 to gather support to develop a potential community of artists. He saw art as an effective tool that would allow the cultural leaders to communicate these stories in vivid detail. He approached the Short St Gallery in Broome and requested its assistance in establishing an environment that would allow art to be created and marketed to a wider audience. Today, works by artists from this region, including Daniel Walbidi, are held in state, national, and private collections within Australia and overseas.

In 2007, Walbidi accompanied a group of senior Yulparitja artists on a return to their traditional lands around Winpa and Kirriwirri (his father’s Country). It was during this journey that Walbidi and the senior painters sat on their Country and painted the Dreaming stories. This emotional experience influenced Walbidi to introduce new elements into his paintings—more blocks of colour, layered compositions, and the use of silver and gold paint to reflect the energy and layers of information within the land.

Walbidi’s early paintings depict panoramas of his Country seen from afar, while his recent experiences have inspired him to incorporate the wondrous details of his Country into his works today.