Raymond Walters Penangke

Raymond Walters Penangke was born in Alice Springs, November 1975.  He belongs to the Anmatyerre language group and associates with the country around Mt Allan (Yuelumu) north west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. 

Both his grandparents are Anmatyerre, his grandfather coming from the north west of Alice Springs and his grandmother from Alhalkerre Atnangkerre country (Boundary Bore) in the Utopia region, north east of Alice Springs. 

Through his art, Raymond shares his Culture and Customary Law, which has been passed down from his grandparents and family members through ceremonies and daily life. He grew up surrounded by amazing artists from his own family groups, so, is it any wonder Raymond had a passion to also put paint to canvas. He watched and learned as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri brought his ancestral stories alive with his brush on canvas and saw his aunties Gloria Petyarre and Barbara Weir’s ‘Leaves’ and ‘Sacred Grasses’ move in the breeze across their canvases. The women danced and sang their stories in the late great ‘Awelye’ (Women’s Ceremonial) artworks of Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Minnie Pwerle and many, many more. 

Raymond lived in Victoria for a few years with his family where he undertook a Master’s Degree in Public Health at Deakin University’s Institute of Koori Education. He is presently living in Alice Springs with his wife and children and when he is not at work, passionately working towards making strong and sustainable changes in the lives of indigenous people then he is putting paint to canvas to produce beautiful images of his Emu Dreaming from Alhalkerre Atnangkerre country.