[4] He was raised in the Wagilak community without communication with the modern Western world, a unique upbringing compared to the other Ngukurr artists who grew up in contact with Europeans.
He began traveling throughout Arnhem land, where he learned more about his culture – specifically certain rituals, ceremonies, and stories.
[5] Throughout his travels, he learned about a variety of Arnhem land art styles and ceremonial painting in different clans.
In Aboriginal Australian culture, the universe is divided into two exogamous patrimoieties called Dhuwa and Yirritja, and being and thing belong to one or the other.
[7] Moieties determine the animals, totems, and places an individual is empowered to recreate artistically and the type of person they are allowed to marry.
His heritage was Yolngu, but his art resembles central and western Arnhem Land traditions more closely.
The work featured a crooked canvas shape and a deviation from the traditional square format.
His style often also saw symmetrical and circular backgrounds which draw attention to the central figures—especially in depictions of ceremonies.
[8] Many of his paintings are in the figurative tradition, and feature ancestral beings and mortuary scenes, as well as iterations of both his and his mother's dreamings (kangaroo, crocodile).
[6] Yolngu art can be generally divided into two representational groups: figurative and geometric.
It was officially known as the Roper River Mission and focused on establishing industrial, agricultural, educational, and spiritual foundations in the community.
In 1968 the Welfare Branch of the Northern Territory assumed control of the settlement, and government policies began to swing away from assimilation.
This dynamic style makes it hard to define Ngukurr Arts in any specific way as the Roper River artists strive to differentiate themselves from previously established Aboriginal tradition.
This level of investment and interaction helped to gain publicity for the Roper River artists in the Western art markets.
Many movements around the world were driven by the idea of "new" and "now" as artists wanted to achieve something different from what has been done in the past.
Specifically, Pop Art also focused on the reinvention of traditional motifs through new methods of expression like screen printing.
[4] Also, the information he brought to the Ngukurr area from his vast travels through Arnhem land, in the form of ceremony, songs, and art styles, helped was invaluable in the reconnection to traditions in the wake of colonialism.