Kenneth Martin Jungarrayi

Kenneth Jungarrayi Martin was born in Lajamanu, an Aboriginal community in a semi-arid country on the edge of the Tanami Desert, halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. His parents passed away when he was a little boy so he was brought up by his father's brother. His Grandmothers live in Alice Springs in the “old-timers" home. “When I was young I was a lover boy, a music man! I'm a singer, my mother was a singer and my father was her manager." 

Kenneth is a member of the 'Lajamanu Teenage Band' and their album Vision was nominated for an Aria Award for Best World Music Album. They are one of the most popular live acts in the Territory and have played Survival, Burunga, Melbourne Fringe, and many other community festivals. 

When Kenneth is not traveling with his music he lives in Nyirripi with his second wife Evelyn Nangala Robertson, an artist with Warlukurlangu Artists. Kenneth began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation; an Aboriginal-owned and governed Art Centre in Yuendumu, in 2011. His “Grandfather" Mosquito Morris, with who he shares the same land, showed him the designs and shapes that depict his country. Kenneth paints his father's Jukurrpa, Yankirri (Emu Dreaming), Dreaming stories about his country south of Yuendumu. “I sit and do painting, it makes me feel relaxed. I do the design and everything and my wife does the dot painting."