Mark Richards was born in Kalgoorlie in 1975 and currently lives and works in Ceduna, the Far West Coast of South Australia. Mark is from the Bangarla and Gubrun Peoples of Australia. Mark spent many hours observing his father who was a practicing artist in charcoal drawing, while his mother was a painter from Port Lincoln in South Australia, from whom he learned his vivid sense of colour use. His mother’s family produced many talented wood carvers over generations. While predominantly engaged with two-dimensional word burning, Mark is also a mural maker and like his father, a keen illustrator. Wood a key medium used for burning delicate sketches of sea creatures, birds, animals and plants, is combined with acrylic paints and pencil work. Mark uses an electrical instrument for burning and sketching on the wood. In addition, he improvises, using a variety of tools which he invents from branches of trees in his back yard to turkey feathers found on Country. The themes used in Mark’s paintings stem from clear visions he carefully shapes over time: ‘Whatever I see, whatever stimulates me I use as I work from memory. I sketch what I see from my culture and environment. When my dad used to sketch, I observed him carefully. At first it will appear as if he is simply making a few lines, scribbling with charcoal, but over time the image will emerge.’ Mark’s approach to his art is experimental and he may be working on several pieces at a given time, but he believes the wood would show him what to do: ‘I see a picture in the wood. I saw an eagle in a tree and it showed me what it wanted to be, and I was able to start illustrating the magnificent bird.’ Mark was awarded a West Art prize in 2021 and is currently participating in several exhibitions such as Our Mob 2022, Tarnanthi Online 2022 and the West Art exhibition 2022.