About

Hi I`m Les Camille — aka Rafiki Art. 

I trained in Fine Art at Midland TAFE in Perth Western Australia.
I left before finishing my degree, because Rafiki Art was already tugging at my sleeve like a mischievous spirit.
In 1994, I officially registered the name Rafiki Art — years before Rafiki from the play and movie became famous.
I opened a tiny shop at the Malaga Markets, selling original paintings, hand‑painted T‑shirts, and imported African art. That stall became my first headquarters as the self‑appointed Head Chaos Monkey of this colourful circus.

In 1998, I travelled through Africa and set up a studio in Tanga, Tanzania — a base I kept for years while painting, travelling, and exhibiting across East Africa and Europe. I'd vanish to Brighton or Köln for exhibitions, then boomerang back to Tanga covered in paint and questionable decisions.

Highlights from those years: a solo show at The Pub With No Name in Queen's Park, Brighton; an invitation to exhibit at George Street Gallery in 2000; participation in the Brighton Arts Festival in 2001 and 2002; my painting Sax Man featured in the official Brighton Festival Magazine; and a solo exhibition at the 420 Hotel in Msasani, Dar Es Salaam, where I was commissioned to paint a mural for the bar and reception.

Eventually I returned to Australia and took a break from art. Life got sensible. Predictable. Safe.

Then a serious hand injury — followed by five surgeries over two years and months of hand therapy just to regain the use of my right hand — slapped everything into perspective. When you nearly lose the ability to paint, you realise how much of your soul is tied to it.

So when my hand finally healed, I came back swinging. I painted like a joyful lunatic, rebuilt Rafiki Art from the ground up, and ignored every sensible financial instinct I'd ever had. My technique exploded — more colour, more movement, more honesty. And every artwork and canvas print on my site still begins as a real, physical painting. No shortcuts. No AI. Just paint, sweat, and stubbornness.

I've also embraced tech, creating three digital Drawings  — including my favourite act of footy‑themed mischief: The Fremantle Dockers alter ego, The Bull Sharks. Bold, cheeky, and guaranteed to start a conversation at any backyard barbie.

I entered the Archibald Prize 2025 — Australia's most prestigious and fiercely contested portrait prize — with my painting Trying to Escape My Mind. It wasn't just an entry; it was a reckoning. That painting marked a turning point in how I work — rawer, more introspective, more willing to put the uncomfortable stuff on the canvas. Whether the judges loved it or not, painting it changed me.

Regards

Les Camille aka Rafiki Art, the ongoing Head Chaos Monkey, 

I'm just a Painter. I paint pictures, I take great pleasure in what I see.
I'm just a poor man, don't make much profit, but I take pleasure in being me.