I see that the Art Museum at the University of Queensland currently has an exhibition of the Lockhart River Artists entitled Our Way, Contemporary Aboriginal Art from Lockhart River. This is the first exhibition to survey the work of the Lockhart River Art Gang.

Some of the artists in the exhibition include those we have seen before on junk for code: namely, Rosella Namok, Samantha Hobson and Fiona Omeenyo.

Samantha Hobson, Burning Flat at Tozers Gap, 2003, pigment, synthetic polymer and glaze on canvas

The Art Gang have developed their own forms of expression which are very different from the art of central Australia and other parts of Australia. Many of the expressionistic and abstract paintings depict the landscape around Lockhart River while still paying heed to cultural traditions of the past.

An example of work straddling the ground between modern and traditional is that by Rosella Namok:

Rosella Namok, Para Street, Lockhart River, acrylic on canvas

Her abstractions remain referential to the shapes and weathers of her locale.Her art is conceptual, making it unique within the Cape York region, where tradition and ceremony dictate a more figurative style of artistic expression.

Fiona Omeenyo, Strong, 2004, acrylic on canvas

Fiona Omeenyo's paintings are based on the story of her home country given to her by her Uncle Blade.

These paintings do not simply address or provoke a viewer, they demand and entail an interpreter since history, memory and tradition can no longer be thought within representation and mimesis;

Comments

Posted by: Les | May 11, 2007 10:24 PM

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | May 12, 2007 09:54 AM

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