Colin grew up in Milikapiti community on Melville Island until the age of 7. He then moved to Mt Allan (Yuelamu) community in centeral Australian. He then went on to complete his schooling at Saint Philips college Alice Springs. 

After school Colin moved to Garden Point where he started painting at Munupi arts, he was also elected on the board. At 21, Colin moved to Melbourne for a year and interned with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Colin is now back at Milikapit where he is an Artist and artworkers at Jilamara Arts. 

“Even though I’ve moved away from the Tiwi Islands before, no matter how many times you go away you still always miss the scenery and the seafood. 

There was this place we used to go camping called Mudlow (it’s also called Shark Bay). There was this one spot I used to go and sit. It’s on one of the cliffs looking out at this island called Wulinju. It’s beautiful country. There’s one picture that sticks in my mind when I think of Wulinju. One day it was very cloudy except for this one ray of sunshine going straight down to the island, it was almost biblical in a way.”