"Painting is a very personal expression of ones self. To indulge oneself in a passion as spiritual as painting the Jukurrpa is without a doubt a most rewarding one." Walangari Wangardi Karntawarra Jakamarra, also known as Colin McCormack, was born in Alice Springs in 1961.

He is of the Arrernte, Luritja, Walpiri, Yankuntjatjarra, Pintubi and Alyawarre peoples of the Central and Western Desert.

Walangari has held many executive positions and directorships of various Aboriginal Councils. He chaired CAAMA(the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association), the first Aboriginal owned radio station and was a director of the first Aboriginal television station, Imparja. He is committed to improving the lot of his people and helping ensure that the voice of Aboriginal Australia is heard.

He has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education degrees and an Associate Diploma of Aboriginal Education.

Walangari has designed and conducted his own very successful cross-cultural course at the Institute of Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs. The course was attended by many overseas and local professionals and students.

Like the course, Walangari see his paintings as a form of communication between cultures.snake.gif (2530 bytes)

Walangari is multi talented. He is a gifted musician and dancer, with a wonderful stage presence.

It was the legacy of his famous great-grandfather, Albert Namatjira and the inspiration of his grandfather Clifford Possum that encouraged him to paint.

While his paintings tell the traditional stories of his people and feature the iconography of the desert, Walangari uses a fuller colour spectrum and splash effect to forge a striking path within modern aboriginal art.

In his paintings he uses the Jukurrpa range of Global Colour Paints which he personally helped to create.

His paintings are widely acclaimed and he has exhibited extensively both in Australia and overseas.

In 1995 he painted the first prize for the inaugural Indigenous Surfing Competition sponsored by Billabong and Coca Cola.

One of his early works has been acquired by the Australian National Gallery.

Galleries where my work is available

I have exhibited many times abroad, in Vienna, Paris, Frankfurt and other European cities, as well as Hong Kong. I have decided to enter this domain of the world wide web to give people more access to me and my families art and culture. I shall continue to exhibit around the world and on-line and at present have no less than 30 major works for sale.

Exhibitions and Collections

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