Gunybi Ganambarr was born in 1973 into the small Ngaymil clan at Yanunbi outstation in north-east Arnhem Land. He now lives primarily on his mother’s country at Gangan, while occasionally basing himself at Dhuruputjpi. These communities provide inspiration for the artist’s unique style of bark painting and larrakitj (memorial poles). He continues to push for innovation within these long-established art traditions. Ganambarr holds various roles within the community, including performing ceremonial yidaki (didgeridoo) and working as a community ranger. He participated in the National Sculpture Award at the National Gallery of Australia in 2005, and the 2005 and 2007 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. He exhibits with the Young Guns group for emerging artists from Yirrkala, and is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and the South Australian Museum.

Milly Kelly was born around 1930 at Jilakurra in her father’s Kartujarra country in the East Pilbara region. Her mother is Warnman from Karlamilyi and her skin group is Karrimara. In the early 1940s Kelly moved with her family to Old Jigalong along the rabbit-proof fence, before moving to Jigalong Mission after its establishment in 1947. Here she met husband Pompie Charlie, and together they worked throughout the Pilbara on Roy Hill, Marilana and Sylvania Stations. Kelly has recently begun painting, primarily as a means to share stories with other Martu (Indigenous peoples of the Western Desert) and to remember the stories herself. Through her paintings she depicts Jilakurra and Puntawarri, tracing previous travels between these two sites. Kelly paints for Martumili Artists, which represents artists scattered throughout the Martu lands in the East Pilbara region.

Josie Kunoth Petyarre and Dinni Kunoth Kemarre are a married couple who were both born in 1954 into the Anmatyerre people of the Northern Territory. They currently live at the outstation of Pungalindum on their traditional country surrounding Utopia, some 350 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs, with their family including five sons, four daughters and four grandchildren. Josie has been involved with the art movement in Utopia since the 1980s, when she participated in the initial batik work and later progressed to painting in acrylic on canvas. Most recently she has worked with Dinni, a former stockman, and together they have been creating wooden sculptures in the Anmatyerre tradition, but with a unique and quirky twist which incorporates contemporary themes relevant to society today.

Beaver Lennon was born in Adelaide in 1988. He currently lives in Ceduna, South Australia, and belongs to the Mirning and Antakirinja people. Inspired by his family’s artistic background and rich knowledge of country, Lennon is pursuing painting as a career. His major paintings closely replicate the landscape of his country, which stretches from Ceduna and includes the Nullarbor Plain, the Great Australian Bight, and the Breakaways in Coober Pedy. He has recently begun painting portraits of himself and his family members, which reflect the connections between his country and his people’s identity. While his practice is primarily focused on painting, Lennon occasionally works in drawing and sculpture, and produces major mural projects around South Australia. In 2007 he was selected as one of eight finalists in the Fleurieu Peninsula Biennale Youth Scholarship.

Loongkoonan was born around 1910 at Mount Anderson Station on her Nyikina country adjoining the Fitzroy River, where her parents worked in the early days of the Kimberley pastoral industry. In the wet season Nyikina people would leave the flooded stations and footwalk the country. The memory of traversing country has stayed with Loongkoonan and informs much of her painting of the riverside area. Today she is a central figure in her community as one of the most senior Elders and as a holder of traditional language, knowledge, culture and law. She was the winner of the Redlands Art Award in 2006, and the Indigenous component of the Drawing Together art award for reconciliation in 2007.

Patsy Marfura was born in 1942 at Daly River Mission, Northern Territory, and belongs to the Ngangiwumerri people. In the late 1960s Marfura moved her family, including six children, to Peppimenarti, about 300 kilometres south-west of Darwin in the Daly River region. She began painting in 2001, and was first influenced by her grandmother and other elders in Peppimenarti. Marfura makes large painted canvases with bold stripes and dotted markings that reflect ceremonial body painting, while also referencing the three-dimensional forms of weaving on these two-dimensional surfaces. Patsy Marfura has already participated in several shows, including her first solo exhibition at Agathon Gallery, Sydney, 2006.

Archie Moore was born in 1970 in Toowoomba, Queensland, and was named after the famous African American boxer of the same name. Moore’s work communicates a deep understanding of cultural content from an urban viewpoint. His interest in language developed from negative childhood experiences; the artist has now taken ownership of these by deconstructing them and altering their meanings. Moore continues to show work both nationally and internationally and has been selected as a finalist in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. He completed a Bachelor of Arts at the Queensland University of Technology in 1998, and was later awarded a Millennial Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship in 2001 to undertake a non-degree research program at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Glenn Pilkington was born in 1981 and is of Yamatji and European heritage. After spending his childhood in the Kimberley, he moved to Bunbury, and later Perth, in south-west Western Australia. The experience of moving and its manifest personal, social and cultural implications has been mediated through the creative process of making art (specifically photomedia). Pilkington’s works explore an Indigenous connection to and exploration of space in an urban context. Appearing almost as photomontages, these fragmented and repeated images of elements within cities create urban landscapes that are simultaneously abstract yet familiar, and explore different systems of representation. Pilkington’s works have been acquired by Rockhampton Art Gallery, and the University of Hertfordshire, England. He has exhibited in the Ergon Energy Central Queensland Art Award in 2006, the Sunshine Coast Art Prize in 2007, the Hutchins Art Prize in 2007, and Willoughby Art Prize in 2007, as well as in solo exhibitions in Melbourne and Perth.

Daniel Walbidi was born in 1983 into the Mangala people, and is from the community of Bidyadanga, south of Broome. His age belies his great community achievement; at the age of just 16 he began painting and encouraged many other, more senior, community members to begin recording their great knowledge through painting country and stories. Walbidi then arranged for materials and representation for the artists through Short Street Gallery in Broome, almost single-handedly initiating and driving the Bidyadanga art movement. His works, like those of most painters of the region, are reflective of the history of Bidyadanga. Warm desert colours reflect the Mangala and other inland peoples that moved to La Grange Mission, via the pastoral industry; they clash with cooler greens and blues, echoing their current coastal location, owned by the Karrajarri people. Walbidi’s works have been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions and are held in major collections including Artbank, the National Gallery of Australia and National Gallery of Victoria.