Bush Animals | GA-1175

Birth: c. 1966

Region: Bulman NT

Language: Dalabon, Kriol

Brian was brought up in the Bulman region of the Northern Territory as a child, where he lived a traditional lifestyle hunting, fishing and living on his country.

He was schooled in his primary years in Bulman and at 14 years old spent some time boarding in Darwin at Kormilda College for his secondary schooling. However, Brian missed his homelands too much and with a group of other boys they ran away from school. They did not get far, but as a result Brian was sent back to Bulman.When he returned to Bulman he was taken through ceremony, eventually going through four ceremonies in total.

Brian began painting when he was 14 years old. He would go out into the bush to collect the bark for the ‘old men’ to paint - George Jangawanga (otherwise known as ‘Left-hand’ George - who married Brian’s mother’s sister) and his father George Manyita. Once the bark was collected, Brian would then make a fire and lightly burn the bark over the flames to cure and flatten it, for it to be ready to paint. After watching the old men paint, Brian began to paint bark himself. He remembers a time when Mimi Arts and Crafts would travel to communities for artists – buying their work and helping organise workshops on country.

Brian moved into Katherine in 2016, where he made it his home and has lived since.