My Aboriginal name is Gaagang, which means elder brother.

I am Wiradjuri, I come from the Wiradjuri Nation ,My name is David Dunn; My Aboriginal name is Gaagang, which means elder brother. I come from a small town 50 miles west of Dubbo called Trangie (in Aboriginal this means" quick", "intercourse"). I use some of the traditional symbols my father and uncles showed me but I try to use my own style. I was told by an Elder from the Warburton community to paint what you feel not what you see, so I paint from the heart and from the memories of my childhood. Our family's totem is the emu and I have been told I have an extremely strong sense of Spirit and Family.
I started painting as a child with my mum, dad and baby sister. I remember drawing and coloring in with my mother alot.Dad taught me how to hunt ,fish and other male things. I know the tradition was handed down to me then. My parents are still my inspiration to my works.I have eleven children, I paint about them, Kids are important. I get a lot of enjoyment out painting but the fun part is when I see other people’s expressions while they are viewing one of my works. My first exhibition was held at the Boomali art gallery in 1986, where I sold a painting titled "Body And Spirits" The painting sat on an easel for ten minutes and was sold to an American. Since then I have had a few major exhibitions around New South Wales and I've sold a lot of my works to overseas buyers through exhibitions and the Internet. I use some of the traditional symbols my father and uncles showed me but I try to use my own style. I paint from the heart and from the memories of my childhood, Through my works I am able to tell people about our culture, life, love, the good times and the bad times. I feel that people can understand the painting and that they can actually relate to the painting and that they feel drawn to it. Throughout these works stories are told and often visualized by the onlooker's eye as a young man's struggle through life. Silhouettes are used throughout my paintings as the main three colours are of the Koorie (Aboriginal) flag, Red, Yellow and Black. Sometimes white dotted flares are used to highlight a hole in the present, me wanting to go back in time to the "Dreamtime", back to the beginning of creation. The dots represent a lot of different things, but mainly the colours of the natural vegetation around my birth place. ©daviddunncomau