Graham Badari

Place: Gunbalanya

Born: 1963

Biography:

Graham Badari (born 1963) is an Aboriginal Australian artist from the Wardjak clan in West Arnhem Land. Graham Badari belongs to the Duwa moeity and speaks the Kunwinjku dialect. At Injalak Arts, Badari is a popular figure, a tour guide, and a font of community news. Art historian Henry Skerritt describes him as possessing a "impish smile and cheeky sense of humour" and a "unique and eccentric personality". Graham Badari was born in 1963 in Gunbalanya and raised at Maburrinj, about 75 miles (120 km) east of Gunbalanya. Badari was raised by the renowned Aboriginal Australian artist Djawida Nadjongorle but credits the late Thompson Yulidjirri as his greatest influence. From the senior men at Injalak Arts, Badari would learn the fluid and dynamic figurative style that defined Kunwinjku painting at the art center. In 2011, Badari noted, "I've been painting for a long time. I learned by watching elders." Badari draws inspiration from his environment and paints the Dreamings of his Mother Country, Djurlka, where he spent time as a young man near the outstation of Marmardawerre.