Donald Moko is a senior lawman (and trained as a traditional maparn =medicine man), from the Mindi Mindi clan of the Yulparija. He was born at Kalajadu near Wangkatjungka, west of Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia and grew up travelling with his parents around his traditional country.

He came to Bidyadanga in the late 1960s with his wife Mary Meribida and their children. In mid 2003, Moko and other senior people at Bidyadanga met with Emily Rohr, Director of Short Street Gallery, Broome, and a regular visitor to the community, requesting art materials so that they could start painting. Moko was one of the first to experiment with acrylic on canvas. His work was exhibited in the first Bidyadanga Artists group show Manjiliyajarra: An Exhibition by the Yulparija and Mangala Artists, at the Short Street Gallery, Broome in 2003.

This is a representation of his 2004 work “Jowayili“, acrylic on canvas (167x101cm). He also participated in the major contemporary exhibition 2004: Australian Visual Culture Now, at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia in 2004. For more information click here.

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