Born Adam Douglas Hill in Blacktown, NSW (1970) to a Dhungatti Father / Caucasian Mother and carries English, German, Irish & Scottish ancestry. The moniker ‘Blak Douglas’ was conceived 2014 in honour of his dominant genealogies.

Born Adam Douglas Hill in Blacktown (1970), Western Sydney to a Koori Father and Caucasian Mother.
Originally trained in illustration & photography, observing a family of artisans, he became self-practiced in painting with a style influenced by the study of Graphic Design & devoutly politicised in relation to social justice.

1970, the year Adam Hill was born, was a turbulent time of great change. It was time of the beginning of the Papunya Tula dot- and circle-painting movement in Central Australia, and of a major acceptance of Aboriginal art into the Australian contemporary art world. It could be seen to have begun with the painting of a mural composition, in 1971, on the side of the Papunya School building to state the sacredness of the Honey Ant Dreaming story of the site. Parallel with this major evolution was a pan-Aboriginal revolution, with those of us of mixed descent reasserting our position within the history of the nation, both past and present.

I'm a contemporary artist with proud Dhungatti Aboriginal origins. My works are culturally & politically charged with a sense of irony & hint of sarcasm.

Blak Douglas (born as Adam Hill) grew up in Blacktown (Blaktown) in western Sydney on Booreberongal (Dharug) country and is predominantly of Dhungatti and Scottish heritage; born by an Aboriginal father and an Australian mother.

Every country has a national holiday or national commemoration day. But while that day is our national day there will NEVER by unity or harmony between black and white. In fact, the day as is a commemoration of ongoing disunity.

‘In painting the portrait I’ve attempted to marry Dujuan’s divine youth with his inherited ancient wisdom. My customary seven bands in the background represent the Seven Sisters, here stylised in the colours of the Northern Territory flag. The text is quotes from Dujuan, presented as lines written on a school blackboard,’ Douglas says.

‘Spiritually, we all know that Mother Earth is angry at us,’ says Blak Douglas, a Sydney-based artist with Dhungatti heritage.

What attracts you to this work? What makes you cross the room to take a closer look? Detail, use of color, drama, movement, materials, pattern, ornament, gesture, visual poetry, repetition, raw emotion, deconstruction, drawing and line.

Provenance can take many forms – it could be a signed certificate or statement of authenticity from a respected authority, an exhibition or gallery sticker attached to the art, an original gallery sales receipt, an appraisal from a recognised authority or expert on the artist, and images of the artist painting the artwork.

To me it is that all that variety, the depths of meaning that is so valuable. As a non-initiated Westerner, I’ll never know the full story behind aboriginal art. You have to be fully initiated to be privy to particular Dreaming Stories. Usually I find that the artist wants you to share in what can be shared. I guess that’s why I like it. They can tell you quite a lot about it without breaching their codes. To me it works on two levels. It works in this level of a story if you like, but aboriginal art can also work as abstract art. It’s not abstract art, but it definitely works on that level and that sometimes the first way that people are initially drawn to Aboriginal art. They see a painting, they just love the palette, the composition, the scale, the depth. They don’t know anything about the story, but they love the painting.

In 2020, the year Vincent Namatjira was awarded the Archibald for his double portrait with Adam Goodes, I was also impressed by the painting hanging next to it, Blak Douglas’ (aka Adam Hill) Writing in the Sand. It was both passionately political and visually very clever, incorporating the speech that the 12-year-old Dujuan Hoosan gave to the United Nations.

Archibald Prize won by Blak Douglas for portrait of artist Karla Dickens, the second time an Indigenous artist has won

The year 2022 shall mark the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the ‘Aboriginal Embassy’ at 1, King Georges Court, Canberra. The historic site has sat as a poignant metaphor of the constant struggles for the recognition of the return of sovereignty to First Nations peoples upon this illegally occupied continent.

Firstly, acknowledging the immense sacrifice made by Kwementyay G. Floyd at the hands of the white Minnesota Police. What we’ve seen en mass, globally since is a movement that is in it’s least, a freedom of outburst. I feel that a quasi ‘pressure relief valve’ has been released whereby peoples of all creeds have stepped up and punched the air demanding CHANGE.