William (Badger) Bates

Date of birth: 05/10/1947
Ethnicity: Barkindji people, Darling River basin, Far West N.S.W.
Notes: Badger (William) Bates was born in 1947 and is an Elder of the Barkindji people of the Darling River region of Far West,NSW. The Barkindji (meaning “belonging to the river”) people’s traditional lands run along the Darling River. Badger Bates first began making art when he was six years old when he was taught how to carve emu eggs and wood by his grandmother, Grannie Moisey. Badger’s art practice concentrated on carved wood and emu eggs until he diversified into carved stone and linocut printing. Traditional imagery is perfectly suited to the graphic nature of linocut printing and it has allowed him to develop his style and create sophisticated works of art by combining traditional Barkandji images with the western tradition of lino printing. Badger Bates was a participant in the Living Desert project of January 2004. Badger's linocut "Bushtucker on the Paroo", along with 8 other linocuts by local indigenous artists, has been scanned onto a large banner which is on permanent display at the Living Desert. The original linocuts have been donated to The Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery by The Broken Hill Art School, Far Western Institute of TAFE NSW. During the creation of the Sculpture Symposium, Badger felt a spiritual link with his ancestors who left magnificent stone carvings at Mutawintji National Park. This was Badger's first attempt at sculpting stone, having previously established a national reputation. The work is dominated by two rainbow serpents travelling North. As the serpents always lived near water, a pool was carved between them. The footprint is a duality, being both the God Gullawirra journeying from Broken Hill to Mutawintji and Fred Hollows stepping into the afterlife. The hand stencils represent three generations of the Bates family. Other symbols include two interlinked waterholes and a single waterhole with animal tracks and a sand goanna. Bates, collaborated with the artist Jodi Daley to win the 2015 Broken Hill Outback Acquisitive Art Prize with the work: 'Cailin and Tunjili - Steamers Point, Wilcannia 2015'.