In the remote West Australian Aboriginal community of Bidyadanga, a new art movement has emerged. At its helm, is a young Aboriginal man, Daniel Walbidi, who lives in a modest home with his parents and extended family.

Daniel was born and raised in West Australia but his parents, grandparents and extended Yulparija tribe come from an area around the Percival Lakes in the Great Sandy Desert (Wirnpa country).

From the 1950s the Yulparija gradually drifted towards the coast, either lured in by pastoralists and missionaries, or to rejoin family who had already left the desert due to severe drought.

By the mid 70s, Bidyadanga was home to around four distinct desert tribes and language groups, plus the traditional owners, the saltwater Karrajarri people. Bidyadanga was fairly typical of many indigenous communities. But when the Karrajarri won a claim for native title in 2002 a significant shift took place and issues of identity and country came to the forefront for the Yulparitja.

Exiled from their traditional homeland, a distinct yearning for their own desert country began to re-emerge. With the realisation that they would never return to their tribal homeland, Yulparija elders worried that their traditional stories would be lost. A desire to paint and record their stories for their children and grandchildren became a pressing concern.

At the same time, young Daniel Walbidi was beginning his journey as an artist. From listening to stories from his elders, he started painting the country of his father and his forebears. Daniel's early painting inspired the old people to apply brushes to canvas in an explosion of creativity and expression.

Vibrant and bold motifs manifested in a discordant array of colours - hot desert reds and oranges together with the bright turquoise blues and greens of the coast. It was desert country painted in a saltwater palette. For Daniel an unseen landscape came to life.

After a series of sell out exhibitions, these unique works became the "next big thing" in the Aboriginal art scene. As time passed and more people started to paint, the more the artists wanted to revisit their far off desert sandhills, salt lakes and soakages.

Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 10:00PM on ABC