Jarinyanu David Downs was born in Western Australia near Lake Gregory south of The Kimberley in the Great Sandy Desert. He spoke mainly Wangkajunga and Walmajarri languages and, in his youth, followed his family’s traditional desert dwelling lifestyle.
In his early twenties Mr Downs began working on cattle stations in the Fitzroy Crossing area. During the 1960’s Jarinyanu started carving shields, boomerangs and coolamons before, in the 1980’s, picking up paintbrushes, ochres and acrylic pigments and started to paint. During his strong and creative career as an artist he painted figuratively on paper, canvas and shields; figures such as the rain making Kurtal, the snake spirit taking on the form of human who travels the land bringing rain, shown here.
Mr Down’s also held belief in the bible and, when I met him in Broome, Western Australia in 1994, talking one to one,
he got up from his chair and performed a traditional dance whilst singing a verse from the bible he carried with him. I found him to be a sincere preacher and a gentle man. Text: Helen Read