John Bulun Bulun

Clan: Gurrumba Gurrumba

Moiety: Yirritja

Johnny Bulun Bulun was born near the Arafura Swamp in Central Arnhem Land. A renowned healer, ceremonial singer and painter Bulun Bulun was taught how to paint by his father and had his first solo exhibition at Hogarth Galleries, Sydney in 1981.

Bulun Bulun produced the first set of limited edition prints by an Aboriginal artist in 1979 at Port Jackson Press in Melbourne. In 1989 he successful took action against R & T Textiles an Queensland t-shirt manufactures after they illegally reproduced one of his works ‘Magpie Geese and Water Lilles at the Waterhole’. The case Bulun Bulun v R & T Textiles, [1998] ALR 157 become a landmark in Indigenous intellectual property rights.

His work has been included in several influential exhibitions both nationally and internationally.