Alair Pambegan

Alair Pambegan is a Wik-Mungkan artist from Aurukun, on the western Cape York Peninsula in North Queensland. He is the son of the late Arthur Koo’ekka Pambegan Jr a respected elder, lawman and artist, and continues his father’s custodianship of Kalben-aw (Flying Fox Story Place) and Walkaln-aw (Bonefish Story Place), two significant ancestral narratives and story places along the Archer and Watson Rivers that flow into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Deeply grounded in the traditions passed down to him, Pambegan carries forward Wik-Mungkan cultural knowledge through painting and sculpture. His practice spans abstract canvases and large-scale installations crafted from milkwood, ochre and charcoal, drawing inspiration from his father’s law poles and ancestral stories.

Through defined linework and ever-more signature choice of the distinctive red, white and black ochre from his Country, Pambegan progresses his responsibility to preserve cultural memory while creating compelling works that also reveal knowledge of the more recent past.

Source: Sullivan+Strumpf, 2026