The paintings of Prince of Wales (Midpul) are built from rhythm.
Dots punctuate the surface. Bars repeat. Geometric forms expand across fields of colour. Some compositions feel almost musical, as though the marks are moving in sequence.
These paintings emerged from a much older cultural practice.
Prince of Wales was a senior Larrakia man, ceremonial leader, songman, dancer, didgeridoo player, and body painter. When ill health restricted his ability to perform, he began transferring the ceremonial designs that had once been painted onto bodies into permanent works on cardboard, bark, paper, and canvas.
The result was the Body Marks series, one of the most distinctive bodies of contemporary First Nations painting to emerge from the Darwin region.
Who was Prince of Wales?
Prince of Wales was born Midpul around 1935 in the Darwin region and died in 2002.
The National Gallery of Victoria identifies him as Larrakia and records his life dates as c.1935 – 2002.
He was the son of Larrakia leader Imabul, also known as King George, and inherited significant ceremonial responsibilities.
A 2003 motion in the Senate described Midpul as a Larrakia Elder, dancer, didgeridoo player, songman, and artist who was one of the principal custodians of ceremonies, dances, and songs within his community.
Painting came late.
Cultural authority did not.
Midpul and the name Prince of Wales
Midpul became widely known as Prince of Wales.
Accounts differ slightly on the origin of the English name.
Some connect it with his father’s nickname, King George. Others relate it to Midpul’s role performing for Queen Elizabeth II during a royal visit.
Rather than choosing between these accounts, it is more useful to recognise that Midpul is the artist’s Larrakia name, while Prince of Wales became the name under which his paintings entered galleries, collections, and the wider art world.
For SEO, both are important.
For cultural context, Midpul carries particular significance.
Larrakia Country
Larrakia Country encompasses the Darwin region and surrounding coastal areas.
Prince of Wales belonged to this Country.
He was raised within a family deeply involved in Larrakia cultural and land rights and spent much of his life maintaining ceremonial knowledge.
The Northern Territory Place Names Register identifies Midpul as a Larrakia Traditional Owner and describes him as the first contemporary First Nations artist from the Larrakia region to become widely recognised within the art world.
His paintings therefore belong within a specific place and history.
They are not generic geometric abstraction.
They arise from Larrakia ceremony.
Ceremony before painting
Prince of Wales was a ceremonial artist long before he became a gallery artist.
He painted bodies for ceremony.
He led dance.
He sang.
He played didgeridoo.
The visual designs that later appeared on canvas were part of this broader performative environment.
Art Leven’s current description of Body Marks emphasises that these painted forms replicated ceremonial body designs that Midpul had previously applied to men before performance.
This distinction is fundamental.
The canvas works came later.
The designs did not begin on canvas.
Body painting as an ephemeral art
Ceremonial body painting is temporary.
Pigment is applied directly to the body.
The design moves through dance.
It exists alongside song and performance.
Then it disappears.
Prince of Wales’s transition to painting changed this relationship.
A temporary design became permanent.
A body-sized composition could expand onto linen.
A mark once seen in ceremony could remain within a collection.
This was not simply a change in support.
It altered the duration and audience of the design.
A stroke and a change of medium
Prince of Wales suffered a stroke before gaining wider recognition as a painter.
Art Leven records that the stroke restricted his ability to continue dancing and that painting became a way of preserving ceremonial designs central to his life.
Other accounts similarly describe painting as a new medium through which Midpul could maintain the essence of his ceremonial practice when physical performance became more difficult.
This gives the work an unusual relationship with performance.
The paintings are not separate from dance.
They emerge partly because dance became harder.
Beginning to paint
Prince of Wales began painting around 1995.
Early works were made on whatever materials were available.
Cardboard.
Found objects.
Bark.
Paper.
The Senate record notes that he began painting in 1995–96 and achieved substantial recognition within only a few years.
Later, he moved increasingly to canvas and linen.
This shift gave the compositions more space.
The scale could expand.
The marks became more monumental.
The Body Marks series
Body Marks became the defining subject of Prince of Wales’s painting career.
The title is direct.
The paintings translate designs associated with ceremonial body decoration into independent works.
Art Leven currently holds a Body Marks painting from 1998, executed in acrylic on linen. The work is organised around a central rectangular design surrounded by alternating fields of coloured dots and darker rhythmic marks.
The compositions vary, but the essential vocabulary remains recognisable.
Dots.
Bars.
Rectangles.
Fields.
Repeated rhythm.
Rhythm in Prince of Wales’s paintings
Rhythm is one of the strongest qualities in Midpul’s work.
Dots appear in sequence.
Bars interrupt them.
A central form establishes structure.
Then repeated marks extend across the canvas.
Hetti Perkins famously described his paintings as possessing a musical quality, with dots and bars functioning almost like notation. Sotheby’s cites this interpretation in its discussion of Body Marks, 1999.
The comparison is especially appropriate because Prince of Wales was also a songman and performer.
Visual rhythm and performed rhythm belonged within the same cultural world.
Painting and music
The paintings are silent.
Yet they can suggest sound.
A sequence of dots can accelerate.
Bars create pauses.
Repeated marks establish tempo.
Symmetry introduces order.
Variations disturb that order.
For an artist whose life involved dance, song, didgeridoo, and ceremony, this sense of rhythm is not incidental.
The painted surface retains something of performance.
Colour beyond ceremonial pigment
Prince of Wales’s paintings often use bright synthetic colours.
Blue.
Yellow.
Red.
Black.
White.
Ochre-like tan.
These colours can differ significantly from the restricted natural pigments traditionally used on the body.
Annette Larkin Fine Art notes that Midpul replaced the earthier colours associated with body painting with a much more dynamic contemporary palette.
The change is important.
He preserved the structure of ceremonial design without treating painting as a literal reconstruction of body decoration.
The new medium allowed new colour.
Geometric structure
At first glance, many Prince of Wales paintings can appear highly modern.
Rectangles.
Bands.
Repeated dot fields.
Strong colour contrast.
Minimal figurative content.
The visual language can invite comparisons with geometric abstraction.
But that comparison should remain secondary.
The source of the work lies in ceremonial body design.
The paintings may resemble modernist composition.
They were not derived from modernism.
Their structure came from Larrakia cultural practice.
Modern appearance, older foundations
This tension is one of the most interesting aspects of Midpul’s work.
A viewer may first encounter the paintings through their formal qualities.
Pattern.
Colour.
Symmetry.
Repetition.
Then the cultural source becomes clear.
The apparently modern composition comes from a much older ceremonial system.
This reverses the assumption that First Nations art must look visually ancient in order to be culturally grounded.
Prince of Wales’s work is contemporary precisely because the tradition remained active.
From body scale to canvas scale
Early works were often relatively compact.
This suited imagery that had previously been designed for the body.
Later, Prince of Wales increased the scale dramatically.
Sotheby’s notes that his larger late works expanded Body Marks in a way that asserted his cultural authority as a Larrakia Elder.
Scale changes the experience.
A body-sized design becomes architectural.
Dots become spatial.
The viewer no longer sees the entire painting as a small object.
The work occupies the wall.
Body Marks, 1998
Art Leven’s Body Marks, 1998 provides a strong example of Midpul’s mature language.
A central tan rectangular area anchors the composition.
Blue-black markings create internal rhythm.
Fields of coloured dots surround the form.
The structure is geometric without becoming mechanical.
Small variations keep the surface active.
Art Leven connects these forms directly with the body designs Midpul had applied to ceremonial participants before performance.
The painting therefore operates as both contemporary composition and cultural record.
Preserving ceremonial knowledge
One of the most important functions of Prince of Wales’s work was preservation.
Ceremonial body painting disappears.
Canvas remains.
Following his stroke, painting allowed Midpul to maintain designs connected with ceremonies he had spent his life leading.
This does not mean every aspect of ceremonial knowledge was made public.
Rather, painting provided another medium through which authorised visual forms could continue.
The permanent surface became a record of cultural practice.
Cultural authority
Prince of Wales was not simply borrowing ceremonial imagery because it looked visually powerful.
He had authority over the designs he painted.
The Senate’s tribute after his death specifically described him as one of the principal custodians of the ceremonies, dances, and songs from which his Body Marks paintings derived.
This matters when understanding the work.
The designs carry significance because of the artist’s relationship with them.
Authorship and cultural authority are inseparable.
Larrakia art and Darwin
Prince of Wales holds an important place in the history of contemporary art from the Darwin region.
The Northern Territory Government describes him as the first contemporary First Nations artist from the Larrakia region to become widely known and respected in the art world.
Charles Darwin University now describes him as the pre-eminent Larrakia artist and has named its Midpul Art Gallery in recognition of him.
His success demonstrated that Larrakia ceremonial imagery could enter contemporary art institutions without losing its cultural specificity.
Painting after performance
There is a useful way to think about Prince of Wales’s work.
The paintings are not representations of performance.
They are what remains when performance changes medium.
The body becomes linen.
Movement becomes repeated marks.
Song becomes visual rhythm.
Temporary pigment becomes permanent paint.
A ceremonial design enters another kind of space while carrying traces of its original context.
Recognition in 2001
Prince of Wales received major recognition in 2001 when he won the Open Painting category at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
The Northern Territory Place Names Register records the award, while the Senate tribute following his death also specifically acknowledged it.
The award came only around six years after he had begun painting publicly.
That compressed career is remarkable.
A visual language developed over a lifetime of ceremony entered the gallery almost fully formed.
Major collections
By the time of his death in 2002, works by Prince of Wales had entered major institutional collections.
The Senate identified holdings in the National Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, and Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The NGV currently records three works by Prince of Wales in its collection, including two titled Body marks.
This institutional presence is significant given the brevity of his painting career.
Cultural leadership beyond art
Prince of Wales’s importance extends beyond painting.
He was involved in the long struggle for Larrakia land rights.
The Senate tribute after his death acknowledged his contribution alongside other members of his family to land claims including Kulaluk and Kenbi.
This wider context matters.
His authority as an artist was connected with his broader role as Elder, ceremonial leader, and advocate for Larrakia Country.
Art did not sit apart from community responsibility.
Looking at a Prince of Wales painting
A Prince of Wales painting often becomes more complex the longer it is viewed.
At first, there is pattern.
A rectangle.
Colour.
Dots.
Bars.
Then rhythm takes over.
One row responds to another.
A pause appears.
A dense area becomes quieter.
The composition starts to feel performed rather than simply designed.
Knowing the cultural origin changes the work again.
The marks return to the body.
The body returns to dance.
The painting becomes connected with ceremony.
The significance of Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales died on 27 December 2002.
His public painting career had lasted only a few years.
Yet within that brief period, he developed a body of work immediately identifiable as his own.
Larrakia ceremonial design provided the foundation.
Dance supplied rhythm.
Song shaped sequence.
Body painting supplied structure.
Canvas gave the designs permanence.
This combination made Midpul one of the most distinctive artists to emerge from the Darwin region.
His paintings demonstrate that cultural continuity does not require a tradition to remain in one medium.
The marks moved.
Their authority remained.
Discover Prince of Wales at Art Leven
Art Leven (formerly Cooee Art) has handled works by Prince of Wales, including paintings from his celebrated Body Marks series that translate Larrakia ceremonial designs into bold contemporary compositions.
Explore available and previously handled artworks, biographical information, exhibitions, collections, and market history on the Prince of Wales artist profile. Art Leven currently also presents Body Marks, 1998, a significant example of his mature painting practice.