Artist of the Great
Sandy Desert.
About
Lloyd
Kwilla
Lloyd Kwilla (b. 1980, Derby, Western Australia) is a Wangkajunga artist whose work is deeply rooted in the traditions, stories, and landscapes of the Great Sandy Desert. His paintings emerge from Kuylayi – Well 43 on the Canning Stock Route – the country of his grandfather and father. Every brushstroke carries the rhythm of ancestral stories, law, and the responsibility of caring for Country.
A Life of Leadership and Responsibility
From birth, Kwilla’s life has been entwined with leadership. On the day he was born, a respected tribal leader and healer passed away, and according to Wangkajunga law, Kwilla inherited the man’s bush name and responsibilities. By 18, he was already serving his Christmas Creek community near Halls Creek in East Kimberley, balancing the demanding roles of father, mediator, and cultural guide.
Continuing a Family Legacy
Kwilla’s artistic journey began in 2000, when his father, the revered lawman and painter Billy Thomas, passed the responsibility of painting to him.
“My father said to me – it is your responsibility now, to go out there, to look after your country – to paint for it and to tell your children and people about our history and country.”
Painting, for Kwilla, is not just art – it is law, memory, and teaching. His canvases map waterholes, fire paths, and ceremonial sites; they embody the unbroken cycle of people and land.
"Water is life.
Country is spirit.
And painting is how he keeps both alive."
Themes of Fire, Water, and Land
Kwilla’s earliest works explored the theme of bushfires, integral to the renewal of Country. His paintings also dwell on waterholes (Jumu) – places of survival, ceremony, and ancestral memory. With rhythmic swirls and flowing lines, he evokes the invisible tracks linking sacred sites across the desert, what may seem like aerial perspectives to Western eyes but are in fact mind maps of Country.
More recently, Kwilla has embraced pure ochre pigments sourced directly from Kuylayi, expanding his visual language with earthy pinks, soft browns, deep greys, and rich chocolate hues. His paintings move between ritualistic precision and expressive abstraction – drifting rainclouds, windswept ridges, fading tracks – always returning to the pulse of Country.
Artistic Recognition
Though his painting career spans just over a decade, Kwilla’s works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, earning acclaim for their cultural integrity and aesthetic power. His exhibitions include:
Australasian Arts Projects 303, Singapore (Group Exhibition)
2011
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Sydney
2011
Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
2008
A Gift for the Future
Each canvas is more than an artwork; it is a story, a teaching, a continuation. Kwilla paints as both artist and custodian, offering the gifts of his forebears to his children, his people, and the wider world.
“This is my grandfather’s and father’s gift to me, and my gift to my children and the world.”