My name is David Roe and I’m a proud Warumungu/Yawuru man. I was born and bred in Darwin, grew up in Darwin my whole life. What culture means to me is my family. That’s my culture. Art lives on through generations of my family and the art I do is tell stories, lived experiences, stories from my grandparents, my mother and my father.

The people who inspired me to paint come from two sides of my family. I just want to acknowledge the two sides of my family, when I paint, I paint stories, I paint for my family and I’m painting for myself to tell them stories.

I got involved with The Torch at MRC back in 2018 when I was doing cultural art there. When I first heard about The Torch, I was intrigued to know what this programme was about. I feel excited and proud because not only do I get to see the art on the wall, my kids get to look at that as well.

My hope for the future is my life, I’ve been in and out of jail my whole life and I’ve been through the juvenile system. As an adult this was my 19th admission. So my hope for the future is my kids, being the father that I haven’t been. I can’t change the past, but I can change the future.