Djon Mundine

John's father Roy was a union stockman, and Olive's father had joined the first Indigenous Australian political party, the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association, in the 1920s.

His family was very poor growing up, but he credits his father with encouraging the children to think: "I suppose you're not supposed to talk about sex and politics and religion at the table, but he'd get us to talk about whatever was in the papers."

He is the elder brother of former politician Nyunggai Warren Mundine.

He is a Wehbal man from the West Bundjalung nation, from the Northern Rivers of New South Wales.

He is also a descendant of the Yuin people.

Mundine spent his early life in South Grafton.

He was exposed to the traditions of Aboriginal art and technique from a young age.

Djon Mundine (born 1951) is an Aboriginal Australian artist, curator, activist and writer.

He is a member of the Bundjalung people of northern New South Wales.

Djon was born in Grafton, New South Wales in 1951.

The collection features works from the 1960s through to the early 1980s by important artists from the creative hubs in and around Groote Eylandt, Yirrkala, Galiwin'ku, Milingimbi, Maningrida, Ramingining, Gunbalanya, Wadeye, and the Tiwi Islands.

In 1963, his family settled in the western Sydney suburb of Auburn.

Mundine went to the Marist Brothers College then called Benedict College, and went on to commence study at Macquarie University.

After deciding that college was not the right path for him, he became an art adviser at Milingimbi Art Centre as art and craft advisor at Milingimbi in the Crocodile Islands in 1979, and afterwards as curator and adviser at Bula'Bula Arts in Ramingining, in Arnhem Land, for 16 years.

There he conceived of the concept for the famous Aboriginal Memorial, which is on permanent display at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

Mundine is particularly well-known for his work as the concept artist and producer of the Aboriginal Memorial.

He is known for having conceived the 1988 work Aboriginal Memorial, on display at the National Gallery of Art in Canberra.

This is a work of contemporary Indigenous Australian art comprising 200 decorated hollow log coffins, offered as a commemoration of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in 1988; the log coffins represent 200 years of European occupation of Australia.

Their design directly references the traditional hollow log mortuary ceremony of Central Arnhem Land, commemorates those Indigenous Australians who died as a result of European settlement.

The work was realised by 43 artists from Ramingining and neighbouring communities of Central Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, including David Malangi, George Milpurrurru, and Philip Gudthaykudthay.

It was acquired by the National Gallery of Australia, where it is on permanent display.

Its first exhibition was at the Sydney Biennale in 1988, and it has travelled to various galleries around the world over the years.

Mundine was a curator for Aratjara exhibition, which travelled to Dusseldorf, London, and Denmark, 1993–94.

The exhibition was the first public display of the Arnott's Biscuits Collection of Aboriginal Bark Paintings, which comprises 275 bark paintings donated to the MCA in June 1993 by Arnott's Biscuits.

In 1994 he co-curated (with Fiona Foley) Tyerabowbarwarryaou — I Shall never Become a Whiteman, for the Havana Biennial and Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

Tyerabowbarwarryaou was the first exhibition to exhibit contemporary Aboriginal art at the MCA.

In 1994 Mundine and Foley worked together to co-create the Aboriginal Art: The Arnott's Collection exhibition at the MCA.

The Native Born (1996, MCA), was an exhibition and publication showing ceremonial and utilitarian weaving and artistic work from Ramingining community.

Artwork made between 1997 and 2007 by Indigenous artists such as Judy Watson, Banduk Marika, and Jean Baptiste Apuatimi were included.

This led to the inclusion of artists such as Robyn Djunginy in the 1998 Sydney Biennale.

They are Meditating: Bark Paintings from the Museum of Contemporary Art's Arnott Collection (2008) was another major exhibition, which consisted of over 200 objects from the Ramingining Collection.

He divided the collection between six different environments in the Ramingining area : Larrtha'puy (mangroves), Diltjipuy (forests); Gulunbuy (waterholes); Retjapuy (jungles); Rangipuy(beaches); and Ninydjiyapuy (plains).

Mundine honoured the intricate kinship system of Aboriginal culture by using pieces that not only depicted objects in nature, but also represented the histories and social structures of Aboriginal Australia.

In 2008, Mundine created an exhibition called Etched in the Sun.

The exhibition was organised held at Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra.

It consisted of several fine art prints representing years of collaboration between Aboriginal artists and fine art printers.

Another exhibition that he curated in 2008 was the Ngadhu, ngulili, ngeaninyagu: a personal history of Aboriginal art in the Premier State.

It was held at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, and included work from artists like Brooke Andrew, Bronwyn Bancroft, and Badger Bates.

He was born 6th of 11 children to Roy Mundine and Olive Bridgette Mundine (nee Donovan).

In 2020 Mundine won the Australia Council's Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement.