Clan groups: Umpila, Djabugay/ Yirrgay
Language group: Djabuguy

Bernard Singleton Jnr was born in Cairns and raised in the Aboriginal community of Coen, Cape York. When he was a young boy, his mother, a Djabuguy woman and his father an Umpila/Yirrkandji man from Yarrabah mission taught him about fishing, hunting, sacred sites and cultural practices.

As a boy, Bernard enjoyed watching his grandfather make Wagay (swords), and would sit with his mother's people and watch them make rainforest-swords, shields, boomerangs, throwing sticks, spears and baskets. These experiences and his deep knowledge of culture continue to inform his arts practice.

Since 2011, Bernard has exhibited extensively and curated numerous exhibitions and staged major events. In 2018, Bernard guest curated a collection of artefacts that celebrated the cultural heritage and living culture of Aboriginal people in north Queensland. Presented at the Cairns Art Gallery, the exhibition that was entitled MARA: Indigenous design, politics and food culture, brought together more than two hundred traditional and contemporary artefacts with many on loan from the Kowanyama Culture and Research Centre.