David Weir spent 10 years living in the East Alligator River region of Kakdu in the Australian outback, living with and learning from Bill Neidjie, one of the most senior and respected Aboriginal elders of the Kakadu. Known as the 'Kakadu Man', Bill, who died in 2002, was the last speaker of Gagadju, the language of the Bunitj people; he was the recipient of the Order of Australia for his services to conservation. These paintings, produced out of Weir's unique experience, are shaped and informed by the profoundly new way of seeing that Weir learned from his time with the Kakadu people. Dark panelled with light, streaked with red, ochre, browns and blue-greens, they are also infused with the imprint of the Kakadu itself: earth and sky, the spirit of place.

Set in amongst wetlands and rugged gorges, Kakadu National Park holds one of the highest concentrated areas of rock art in the world. As many as 5,000 Aboriginal sites have been found here, providing a detailed, dramatic record of life in Kakadu that stretches back more than 50,000 years. It is still occupied by descendants of these original clans today.

The Aboriginal people believe that Kakadu was shaped by their spiritual ancestors during the Creation Time. These ancestors journeyed across the country creating landforms, plants, animals and Bininj/Mungguy (the Aboriginal people). They brought with them laws to live by, including ceremony, language, kinship and ecological knowledge. They taught Bininj/Mungguy how to live with the land and look after the country.