Alick Tipoti was born in 1975 on Waiben (Thursday Island) in Maluilgal (Western Torres Strait). His traditional name is Zugub and he is an activist of the Kala Lagaw Ya people from Badu Island. Both his parents came from Badu (Mulgrave Island), where Alick lived as a child, learning from his father and grandfather who were both skilled craftsmen and artists.

Tipoti works across a range of media, including linocut printmaking, sculpture, and choreography and performance of traditional Zenadh Kes dances and songs. His works demonstrate the connectivitybetween these artforms and celestial symbolism as a powerful sign of that connectivity.

Girelal 2011 shows the figures of warrior forebears moving among birds, sea life and the water currents of Zenadh Kes, all symbolising its cosmology and the everyday world imbued with the presence of spiritual ancestors. In a rhythmic approach recalling ancient chants and dance, Tipoti uses patterning to show the connectedness of a whole ecological system.