Born in the early ’40s in Pintupi country west of Kiwirrkura, across the WA border near Jupiter Well. He grew up in the bush with his family, and had already been initiated when the group walked into the Catholic mission settlement of Balgo in the late ’50s. While living at Balgo, Dini did stock work and wood carting. While visiting relatives in Papunya, he would have observed the old men painting. During one of these visits in 1981, Dini had his first experience of painting on canvas as one of the team of men who assisted Uta Uta Tjangala on the monumental canvas depicting events at the site of Yumari now in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Dini does not appear to have painted at Balgo but the influence of such Balgo stylistic innovations as as linked dotting was evident in the paintings which he produced for Papunya Tula Artists after moving from Balgo to Kintore in the early ’80s. He painted the stories of the Tingari cycle in his country round Lake Nyaru and Walatju. Married with two young children, he was one of the most dedicated artists working out of Kintore in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
- Writers:
- Johnson, Vivien
Note: primary biographer
- Date written:
- 1994
- Last updated:
- 2011
