David 'Krocette' Prior

Krocette was born in 1955 in Moora, Western Australia. He grew up on various sheep stations around the Murchison region, such as Wooleen, Balardi and Murgoo. Throughout his childhood his grandmother taught him about the Watjarri Yamitiji culture, introducing him to bush tucker and bush medicine, significant places and stories, and to his relations throughout the region. She also introduced him to the strict customs and cultural laws of his people regarding social interaction, marriage and forbidden or restricted places and sites.

While Krocette has worked as a chef and a nurse in the remote east Kimberley, on the east coast and in Perth, he has been painting all his life. Largely self-taught, he drew inspiration from his elders who would draw in the sand and carve emu eggs. Initially working with watercolours and sketching the landscape, Krocette started to use acrylics when he returned to Geraldton and started to tell the stories handed down to him by his grandmother.

Krocette enjoys capturing the colours of the landscape at different times of the day and in different seasons, seeing the summer sunrise as lemon yellow tinges fracturing a golden aura.

Made in Western Australia.