Charlie is the son of renowned artist Freddy Kngwarreye Jones who sanctions what can be shown and painted. As well as passing his Dreaming onto his son Charlie, Freddy has taught Charlie his technique with acrylic painting. Son and father often collaborate on painting their Dreaming.

Charlie’s works depict the ground designs for the sacred ceremonies for his Dreamings – the Wallaby, the Kangaroo and the Snake. The u-shapes represent the indentations made by man when he sits and the circles represent the men whose bodies are covered in down, paint and ochre, sitting in circles ‘singing in’ the young men. Meticulously executed because of the importance of his subject matter, Charlie’s work is very geometric and masculine.

This is the ground design for the sacred ceremony of the Snake (Kwerrenty). The designs are prepared on the ground during lengthy song cycles marking the journey of the Snake Ancestor. This represents an aerial view of the lay of the land as created by the Snake Ancestor. Charlie shows the Snake moving throughout his country in search of food.