Dennis Nona, an island artist from the Torres Strait in northern Australia, is recognised as one of the most original and innovative players on the contemporary Australian art scene.

Dennis Nona was born on the island of Badu in 1973, and as a child learned the traditional art of woodcarving. While studying visual arts at university, he won first prize in the highly prestigious Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2007 with a gigantic crocodile in bronze and mother-of-pearl, making him the youngest artist to win the award and the first islander to achieve it. With further awards in 2008, 2010 and 2011, he becomes the only Australian artist to have won the award four times.

Dennis Nona is a pioneer of the highly detailed linocut technique specific to the Torres Strait Islands. He evokes, in vivid visual form, the ancestral legends and myths of his island and, more broadly, of his native region, which had previously been passed down through oral narratives and dances.

The intricate designs and figurative imagery created by printmakers such as Dennis Nona have led to a renaissance in local culture. They now play a central role in the cultural revival, and elders refer to them to recount the stories of yesteryear.

This traditional culture glorified combat. It was a culture of head-hunters, cannibals and warriors who preyed on treetop dwellings. In this society, when killed, men, women, witches and sorcerers were thrown into the sea to become the islands and rocky outcrops that can now be found throughout the Torres Strait.

After creating an imposing work for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, Dennis Nona is currently working on a project for a monumental sculpture, in bronze and mother-of-pearl, six metres high and eight and a half metres long, planned for the forecourt of the Musée des Confluences in Lyon. His talent and constant innovation have resulted in works whose beauty is equalled only by their complexity.

Works by Aboriginal artist Dennis Nona can be found in some of Australia's leading museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney) and the National Gallery of Australia, as well as in major international public collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the National Museum of Scotland, the Machida Graphic Arts Museum (Tokyo), the Centre Culturel Tjibaou (Nouméa), the Musée d'Art & d'Histoire de Rochefort and the Musée des Confluences in Lyon.