In 2013 Shirley Macnamara began to make skullcaps, reminiscent of a customary funerary practice for some Aboriginal women where their heads were plastered with white clay or burnt gypsum to form a cap, covering their hair completely. The wearing of this cap could extend for some time after a death, with successive coatings making it…
Continue reading » “‘Skullcap’ honours Australian servicemen”
In these intimate intergenerational portraits, Naomi Hobson shares an affectionate representation of Kaantju and Umpila boys, men and elders from her community. Adorned in vibrant flowers found in their hometown of Coen in far north Queensland, these ‘warriors without a weapon’ share the cultural practice of decorating their beards in preparation of ceremony and to…
In the early 2000s, senior Wik and Kugu law men from the Aurukun region on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, Far North Queensland, pioneered a significant contemporary movement: They reimagined their ceremonial visual traditions as contemporary art. Embodying ancestral narratives in a way that maintains spiritual and historical connections between the past and…
Continue reading » “Contemporary Ceremonial art from Aurukun”
Three painted terracotta pots by Arrernte–Luritja artist Irene Entata depict three distinct periods in Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira’s life, including the sad circumstances of his death. One of the foremost artists of the Hermannsburg Potters, Irene Entata (1946–2014), is known internationally for her unique painted ceramics. Much of her art fondly depicts a time that…
Vernon Ah Kee is a Brisbane-based Aboriginal contemporary artist who has risen to the forefront of urban-based conceptual art practice. Ah Kee was born in Innisfail, North Queensland and his triptych neither pride nor courage 2006 (illustrated) is part of a series of large-scale hand-drawn family portraits. On two of the three panels, Ah Kee…
Distinctive ceramic works by Naomi Hobson mark not only a new direction in her art practice, but also a celebration of Indigenous culture and people coming together over great distances. Naomi Hobson is one of a new generation of contemporary Indigenous artists who is already making her mark nationally. Hobson is from the Kaantju/Umpila language…
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.