Watch the latest in a new series of exhibition videos produced by Despard Gallery, in association with Art Rewind.
In this exhibition install video, we showcase the talented work three indigenous artists from Lockhart River. Presented in association with Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, this curated exhibition brings together three leading artists from the Lockhart River ‘Art Gang’, Fiona Omeenyo, Samantha Hobson and Rosella Namok.
A small and remote community, Lockhart River is located eight hundred kilometres north of Cairns on the Eastern Cape York Peninsula. Growing up, they experienced the traditional ways of the area, including fishing and gathering food. Each artist remains influenced by this area, using paint to reflect and speak to the traditions and experiences of their birthplace. Omeenyo’s figurative compositions symbolise bloodline, which connects ancestral spirits with family and her homeland amidst coastal beach and reefs. Her paintings reflect on ancestry, connectivity and a continuous relationship with past and present. Namock’s distinctive style has been developed from a technique influenced by watching her grandmother drawing in the sand. Her work combines both traditional stories and contemporary themes associated with social and environmental concerns. As well as describing her home country, Hobson’s paintings depict her community and stories from the ‘old people’, learning about the land, traditional dance and bush food.