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I am looking after this place, this my Dreaming place put here by the earliest ancestors, the old people a long time ago, maybe by Djingalawarrewoni [an ancestral being] or by God ... They promised this place for me and the honey spirits, but I'm going through this my country so don't get cranky with me for coming here. My ancestors gave me this place and I myself have a longing for this country.

A striking aspect of Bardayal Nadjamerrek's work is his virtuosity as a figurative artist. Nadjamerrek eloquently captures the dynamic movement and naturalism of his subjects, freeze-framing the exact moment of a wallaby in flight, a possum delicately feeding on leaves, or a group of people gesticulating in animated conservation. The artist also has an extraordinary eye for detail based upon a lifetime mostly living out in the bush observing people engaged in diverse social activities, animals and plants. Today Nadjamerrek is widely regarded as one of the greatest living exponents of the Western Arnhem Land art tradition.

The epic journey that led Nadjamerrek to this point began in 1969 when he started painting commercially for what was then the Church Mission Society's Oenpelli mission. Up until then he had been working a variety of demanding jobs from tin mining, stock work, wood chopping, labouring and gardening to buffalo shooting. So when linguist Peter Carroll offered the choice of painting with the other men rather than timber cutting for the mission, Nadjamerrek chose to paint. He was 44 and already a consummate draftsman with many years of painting experience. Previously he had been taught the ancient technique of rock art painting by his father Yanjorluk when growing up in the heart of the escarpment country. His paintings of full-figured animals, spirit beings and occasional pressed beeswax images, can still be found today scattered throughout the region's rock art galleries. These images trace certain events in Nadjamerrek's life as he travelled the length and breadth of the stone country, learning about the sites and stories of many different clan groups...

Despite an early following, Nadjamerrek's career only gained momentum when a fully-funded community-run art centre was established at Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) in 1989. The artist is now one of only a few surviving senior men still working with Injalak Arts and Crafts Association, and together with Thompson Yulidjirri and Kalarriya 'Jimmy' Namarnyilk, is an extremely important mentor for the younger generation of Kunwinjku artists...

This area is also known as 'Ankung Djang&squo;' (Wild Honey or Sugarbag Dreaming) or 'Ankung Kunred'(Wild Honey Country) to reflect its dense ancestral associations with different varieties of wild honey...

The honey beings are only part of the spiritual universe that Nadjamerrek inhabits. Over a lifetime of learning and ceremonial participation the artist has accumulated an encyclopaedic knowledge of Kunwinjku cosmology and the way it is mapped across the living landscape. The ancestral beings and spirits that reside in the rocks, plains and waterways are the cornerstone of the artist's inspiration, along with his everyday experiences of the world...

This article appears in excerpted form. You can read the entire article in Art & Australia's Spring 2008 issue.