DANIEL WALBIDI 2019: Recent work by Daniel Walbidi

'Painting is not just limited to what you see', Daniel Walbidi 2009

Daniel Walbidi is a Mangala/Yulparitja man from the north-western Australian coast and a prominent desert painter. 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 but grew up hearing the Dreaming stories associated with this land. Such as the precious fresh waterholes filled with the ‘living water’ created by the ancestors. These waterholes are the resting places of powerful spirits and Walbidi built graphic images in his mind and later as an artist, he began to depict these stories on canvas. He approached Short St Gallery in Broome and requested assistance in establishing an environment that would allow art to be created and marketed to a wider audience. His creative accomplishments have built every year since and he is a highly skilled and sought after artist working across many mediums.
In 2007, Walbidi accompanied a group of senior Yulparitja artists on a return to their traditional lands around Winpa and Kirriwirri (Walbidi’s father’s Country). The experience was a revelation to Walbidi revealing to him the details of his country and he began to paint in a very different way. Building colour, eneergy and shimmer into every artwork. He sees art as a personal expression but also as an effective tool that allows cultural leaders to communicate stories in vivid detail.
Short St Gallery invites you to view a selection of very special recent works from the current year.