HUGHIE DJUBIDJA AHWON

Biography

Hughie was born on the Barkley tablelands. His father was from the Kimberley and his mother from Borroloola. On his father’s side, his great-grandfather was Chinese. He married a full blood Aboriginal woman and their son also married a full blood Aboriginal woman. Hughie is proud of his heritage.

Hughie worked in a number of professional jobs but he had always been attracted to the art and carvings of the Boab carvers. He had more education than they did but they had more knowledge of the old ways and the traditional culture.

In 2011 he found himself in Cairns and Pandanus Gallery was made aware of his early drawings. We supplied him with canvas and paint. His works sold quickly. But he wanted to work with ochres. So he went out and collected termite mound material, crushed it up and used a binder to make a paste. When applied to canvas it had the texture of the cave walls.

During this time Hughie also produced a series of lithographs which largly feature the Wandjina, the curious character that is found in the caves in that western part of the Kimberley in Western Australia