"A lot of people died unhappy when we were taken from our land. We are in the desert now, strange country we don't know. We can't give evidence now. How can people understand what we are telling them, all our symbols have gone, we are too far away...Lots of people learned white man's rules, but nobody recognised our law...It was bad when we saw loads of stone smashed up in our land. Many of these were special stones like in my paintings here. These stones we call Djalala, which separate our country from somebody else's country...We were taught to care for our country, our mother, it's our birthright, it's our father's land too. We had to abide white man's law, that's when misery came on us...Many people too old to walkabout country. But these Djalala very important for us. It's our evidence that Wandjina created."

Jack Dale Mengenen, c1922, is one of the most senior law men of the Kimberley Narrungunni people. Dale paints from his memory of 'law and the old people' so that these Dreamtime stories won't be lost. As senior law man, Jack Dale has the moral authority to paint the Wandjinas and their stories.

Dale's extraordinary paintings of Wandjinas, the most important spirit ancestors of the Kimberleys, and Jalalas or marking stones, represent some of Australia's most important aboriginal art by a contemporary indigenous artist.

"Our God Wandjina created our Garden of Eden... ...The Wandjina lay right across the sky. He painted himself, he put tucker Mungari everywhere... the Wandjina came from the Milky Way... The Wandjina images are being born today. His power to create goes on and on" - Jack Dale

Language: Ngarinyin - Senior Law Man Kimberley
Country: Imanji near Mount House Station
Resides: Derby, Western Australia

Upcoming Solo Exhibitions

2008 “Jack Dale’ – Artistry Galleries, Melbourne
2008 ‘Jack Dale’ – Paris, France
2008 ‘Jack Dale’ – Prue Dowd Gallery, London

Solo Exhibitions

2007 ‘Jack Dale – Wandjinas at Wungud’, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2007 ‘Jack Dale – Kimberley Personified’, Art Mob Aboriginal Art, Hobart
2006 ‘Jack Dale – Jalala Marking Stones’, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, Sydney
2006 ‘Jack Dale – A Kimberley History’, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2006 ‘Jack Dale – Framed’, The Darwin Gallery, Darwin
2004 ‘Jack Dale – Jalala Marking Stones’, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2004 ‘Jack Dale – Narrungunni Dreamplaces’, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2003 ‘Jack Dale’ - Kintolai Gallery, Adelaide
2002 ‘Jack Dale – Kimberley History’, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2001 ‘Jack Dale – Djumba Ceremonies’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2000 ‘Jack Dale – Senior Law Man’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne


Group Exhibitions

2007 Artistry Galleries, Melbourne
2007 Group Show, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2007 Group Show, Burrinja Gallery, Melbourne
2007 Group Show, Broome 6 Gallery, Broome
2007 ‘Jack Dale – Spirit of the Clouds’, Jeffery Malesa Gallery, Sorrento
2006 Group Show, Burrinja Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Group Show, Art Mob, Hobart
2004 Group Show, Art Mob, Hobart
2003 ‘Contemporary Masters’, Burrinja Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Group Show, Burrinja Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Group Show, Michel Sourgnes Fine Arts, Brisbane
2002 Group Show, Art Mob, Hobart
2001 ‘Wandjina’, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
2001 ‘Kimberley Works’, Burrinja Gallery, Melbourne