Ray Dimakarri Dixon is a veteran of the Australian music scene, a member of the ’80s rock group the Kulimindini Band from Elliott who were inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2008 National Indigenous Music Awards. In more recent decades Ray has collaborated with his daughter Eleanor for the celebrated duo, Rayella, and with the theatre group Finucane & Smith, bringing his music in Mudburra and English to ever-growing audiences.

As a visual artist Ray is better known in his home community of Marlinja for his carving. This exhibition marks both his exhibiting debut and his first body of works as a painter which are striking in their vibrancy, confidence and originality. At one level these works are a response to the salvaged mining plans and related papers on which Ray makes his mark. His music has long campaigned for Country and these paintings are similarly impassioned and politicized. In his boldness of line and patterning we may see some influence in his carving background along with a newfound freedom in expressing story and emotion through the richness of colour. 

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