Artist CV: NAOMI HOBSON

Born: 1978 Country: Coen, Far North , Australia Language Group: Kaantju/

Artist’s statement:

Coen is my home. My family and country mean everything to me.

Naomi Hobson is a Visual Artist who resides on the banks of the riverbeds her grandparents were born. Her residence is an old tin shed that was once her village church. Her colourful abstract compositions act as a link between individuality and a shared identity. Her continual inspiration is the vast traditional lands of her ancestors surrounding the town of Coen in Queensland and her culture. More recently, Naomi is further inspired by the richness of cultural diversity she witnessed first-hand while exploring village life, rural farmlands and the organised urban chaos throughout South East Asia.

Coen is a small township of 300 people at the bottom of the McIlwraith Ranges (part of the Great Dividing Range) surrounded by the east coast of , rainforest and open wooded country, with many river systems that snake down to the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef. The local clans include Kaantju, Umpila, LamaLama, , Wik Mungkan and Olkola. This landscape has provided inspiration for Naomi’s paintings.

I paint in my own personal space where I feel most comfortable including my back veranda, in the dry river beds, on the banks of my childhood fishing places as well as at the camp sites that my families have lived and spent time for thousands of years. I will take time to look at the miniature things, the tiny little things that nature hides.

The landscape of Coen is also imbued with a marked political history. Since European settlement Aboriginal people have maintained a connection to their country through working on pastoral properties. Hobson’s grandfather was employed as a stockman for a European family, while other local indigenous people worked as farmhands (cooking, cleaning, gardening, baby-sitters) for no financial reward. Further, Hobson’s family have been active in indigenous land rights and reform movements in the effort to return traditional lands and on social and economic reforms to her Cape York community of Coen. Through her art, Hobson continues her family tradition of political and social engagement. Every brushstroke expresses the innate embeddedness of cultures and country in her paintings. However, this specific link to place is brought about through a keen sense of her own individuality.

My aboriginality is what grounds me. Through art I get to freely express all of this. I can share my creative freedoms in a contemporary way.

My style also reflects my individuality... I want my work to tell my stories in an innovative way, I want to introduce new work, to maintain a point of difference, I am wary to re-define and not recycle.

While Hobson is quick to point out she has been exploring her art practise since her teenage years, in 2007 Hobson commenced her journey as an emerging artist.

In 2013, Naomi Hobson had her first solo exhibition at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, which was opened by The Honourable Tony Burke MP, Member for Watson, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities & Minister for the Arts, and Noel Pearson, Lawyer, Academic, Land Rights activist and Founder of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership. The sell-out exhibition, titled I am Yikan (an exhibition exploring self-identity) was held from 4 June – 28 June. This body of work introduced the extent of Cape York’s extreme shades of brightness and colour and her own capability of layered colour combinations.

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Every year since 2013, Hobson has held a solo exhibition, exhibited in many group shows including overseas, been a regular finalist in art awards (Finalist in National Aboriginal and Islander Art Awards 2014, 2015, 2016) throughout Australia including Winner of the 39th Alice Spring Arts Prize. Hobson has featured in numerous arts magazines and has established herself as an Artist.

Hobson’s art work has been acquired by institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

In June 2018, Hobson held her first overseas solo exhibition at Red Dot Gallery, Singapore.

Naomi Hobson, November 2018

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Solo exhibitions: 2013 I am Yikan, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2014 Seven Sisters and the Bonefish Story, Depot II Gallery represented by Alcaston Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2014 Ngaachi Paapa – My Mother’s Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2015 Ngaachi Ngunama – Story Place, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2016 Kanichi – On Top People, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2017 Naomi Hobson, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2017 Time and Place: Naomi Hobson, Art Mob Aboriginal Fine Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 2018 New Beginnings – Redot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore, Singapore 2018 Times Have Changed – Suzanne O’Çonnell Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

Selected group exhibitions: 2008 Black Roots, Kick Arts Gallery, Cairns, Queensland, Australia 2008 Arimidale Cultural Art Fair, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia 2009 Some of Us, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia 2009 Taralinga, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 2009 Smith and Hall, Sydney, New South Wales,Australia 2009 Australian and Oceanic Art Gallery, Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia 2012 Lockhart River Art, Art Atrium, Bondi Junction, New South Wales, Australia 2012 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2012, Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, Queensland, Australia 2012/2013 Land and Water/Ancient and Modern: Contemporary paintings from Lockhart River, Booker Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA 2013 ‘Ngampula Kuunchi – We are family’, Lockhart River Art Group, Emerge Art Space, Inglewood, Western Australia, Australia 2013 Kinship – A Celebration of Fine Art from Far North Queensland Indigenous Art Centres, Tank Art Centre, Cairns, Northern Territory, Australia 2013 Gold Coast Art Prize, Gold Coast City Gallery, Surfer Paradise. Queensland 2014 Masterpiece London 2014, South Grounds, The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London, England.

2014 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2014, Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2014 31st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia 2015 Goma Q, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 2015 Out of Queensland: New Indigenous Textiles, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. 2015 32nd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia 2015 Sydney Contemporary 15, Carriage works, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2015 All About Art: Brisbane, White Canvas Gallery, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2015 ArtNow Far North Queensland, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns, Queensland, Australia 2016 Provenance Does Matter – the Collector’s Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2016 The 39th Alice Spring Prize Exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. 2016 DENFAIR, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2016 Provenance Does Matter – Living with Contemporary Art, Alcaston Gallery at Gallery 369 Bendigo, Victoria, Australia 2016 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery at Depot Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2016 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery Of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia 2016 Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Geelong Gallery, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 2016 Len Fox Painting Award, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia 2016 Kinship, Country & Women’s Australian Indigenous Art, International Education Services, 3

Indigenous Art Collection, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 2017 The Extractive Frontier: Mining for Art, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia 2017 Time and Tide, Alcaston Gallery as part of the Art+Climate=Change2017 Festival, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2017 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2017, Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2017 Sydney Contemporary, resented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2017 Australasian Painters 2007 – 2017: Artist Profile 10th Anniversary, Orange Regional Gallery & Orange Regional Museum, Orange, New South Wales, Australia 2018 San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Fair: Art of Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americans, San Francisco, California, USA 2018 Mixed Blood – Contemporary Indigenous Cultural Expression, Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, Queensland, Australia 2018 Naomi Hobson and the Kalan Clay House, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, Queensland, Australia 2018 2018 From Bark to Neon: Indigenous Art from the NGC Collection, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2019 Body Politics: Contemporary Works from the Collection, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

Awards: 2013 Finalist, Gold Coast Art Prize 2014 Finalist, Gold Coast Art Prize 2014 Finalist, 31st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award 2015 Finalist, 32nd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award 2016 WINNER, 39th Alice Spring Prize: National Contemporary Art Award 2016 Finalist, 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award 2016 Finalist Geelong Contemporary Art Prize 2016 Finalist Len Fox Painting Award 2017 Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery 2017 Highly Commended, (Malkarti Poles - ceramics) Emerging Art Awards, CIAF 2017 2018 WINNER, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Photography Award

Collections: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Autralia Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Araluen Art Collection, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns, Queensland, Australia ArtBank, Australia Macquarie University Art Collection, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Stuartholme School, Toowong, Queensland, Australia US Consul General, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia International Education Services, Indigenous Art Collection, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Cairns Regional Council Collection, Cairns, Queensland, Australia Brocard-Estrangin Collection, France Leeuwin Estate Collection, Margaret River, Western Australia. Australia. Viva Energy Collection, Australia Dame Rose Horton, Private Collection Dame Quentin Bryce, Private Collection Penelope Seidler, Private Collection Noel Pearson, Private Collection Honourable Tony Burke MP, Private Collection Honourable Tony Abbott MP, Private Collection Honourable Alan Tudge MP, Private Collection Brook Andrew, Private Collection

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Selected Publications: 1. Kinship – A celebration of Fine Art from Far North Queensland Indigenous Art Centre, Tanks Art Centre , 2013 2. Hobson’s choice a Cape of Good Hope: The Age, Friday June 14, 2013, p. 12 3. Debutantes- 50 things Collectors need to know 2014, Art Collector, Issue 67, Jan-March 2014 4. Tim Halves, Naomi Hobson: Painting with Local Ingredients, ADFAS bulletin, 2014 5. Nicolas Rothwell, Twin Streams to the Heart of Artist’s World, The Australian, Thursday, October 2, 2014 p. 14 6. Simone Henderson-Smart, Colours of Country, OUTthere Airnorth, January 2015, Issue 127, pp 32-33. 7. Peter Mckay, Goma Q: Contemporary Queensland Art, Artlink Magazine, Queensland Art Gallery, 2015, pp 10-11 8. Goma Q: Contemporary Queensland Art, Exhibition Catalogue, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery Of Modern Art, 2015, pp 54-55 9. Naomi Hobson, Comment: Reform Help Cape York Community,, Potshots from Afar. Brisbane Time, Saturday, 12th December 2015 10. Kieran Finnane, Alice Prize Winning Work Speaks of Country, Art History, Alice Springs News, 18th April 2016 11. Jane Llewellyn, Artist under 5k: Naomi Hobson, Art Collector, issue77, July September 2016, pp 126-127 12. Naomi Hobson, Process: Naomi Hobson, Artist Profile, Issue 36, 2016, pp 132-134 13. Tess McCabe, Creative Minds: Conversations with Creative Women (Vol 3) September 2017. 14. Simon Elliot, ArtLines, Malkarti Poles (Dancing Poles), Issue 1, March 2018, pp 54-55 15. Hobson reveals the true nature of the warrior, Bendigo Advertiser, Friday January 11, 2019.

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