10 February – 6 March 2021
Despard Gallery, in association with Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, is pleased to present a curated exhibition bringing 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.
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Fiona 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. The symbols and figures used within her paintings are described by Omeenyo as a personal interpretation of togetherness, specifically her family and spirit.
Rosella Namok’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, specific to the North Queensland coastal landscape and its natural habitats. Painted marks are often made directly on the surface with her fingers, distinctively etched with a powerful yet measured approach.
Samantha Hobson’s paintings describe her home country, specifically depicting her community and stories from the ‘old people’, learning about the land, traditional dance and bush food. Thick layers of paints are regularly applied using bright marine colours, reflecting Hobson’s memories of life on the reef. Greens are often used in the background with multi-coloured linear representations in the foreground to represent the vines and creeks of the rainforest.
VIRTUAL VIEWING ROOM
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