‘New Houses’
Acrylic on canvas
178 x 123.5 cm
‘
They just built a new house where my Grandfather used to stay. It’s a nice
two bedroom
house. Hope they look after it...no graffiti on the wall...it’s a nice
big house.’
PROVENANCE
Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, painted 2001,
Catalogue number RN096
Twentyfive year old Namok is the best known member of the ‘Lockhart River
Art Gang’, a group of men and women under the age of thirty who for the
last nine years have focussed
their skills and energies on painting, sculpture and fine art printing. The Lockhart
River
community of approximately six hundred people was settled as a mission in the
1920’s
and is situated 800 km north of Cairns on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula
in far north Queensland.
A member of the Aankum language group, Rosella began painting as a child, helping
her father to decorate with ochres the bodies of the dancers who performed at
traditional
ceremonies.
Her current pictures include representations of these markings, along with symbolic
patterns
handed down by her ancestors and passed on to Rosella by her grandmother.
In 1999 Rosella was nominated for the Young Australian of the Year in the ‘Arts’ section
and in 2003 she was awarded ‘The Australian Centenary Medal’ for
distinguished
service to indigenous art and to the community. In the same year she also won ‘ The
High Court of Australia Centenary Prize’, sponsored by the Australian Bar
Association
to celebrate the
centenary of the High Court of Australia in Canberra.
REPRESENTED
National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Victoria
Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Queensland Art Gallery
Flinders University, South Australia
Columbus State University, Georgia, USA
The Kluge-Ruhe Collection, USA
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