Samantha Hobson | FireWorks Gallery

Artist Tabs

Selected works

FW17460 Rainforest III	FW17514 "Moonlight where reef"	FW17540 Old people I (white)
FW17677 Rainforest vine	FW18422 Reef/Life III	FW18430 Life/Reef I
FW18781 Sandbeach Wave Bust	FW18786 Earth Lines	FW18790 No Track to Yum Yum Beach
FW19198 Flag Waves	FW19204 Wu'anchi (Bushfire)	FW19571 Fire horizon
FW19574 In the clear I	FW19676 Flag wave II	FW19677 Flag wave III

Pages

Bio & CV

SAMANTHA HOBSON
Born: 1981 Lockhart River QLD
Region: Eastern Cape York Peninsula
Language group: Kuuku Y’au
Lives and works: Lockhart River, QLD

Samantha Hobson is one of the founding members of the Lockhart River ‘Art Gang’ established in 1995. Many of the surrounding areas such as Claudie River, Quintell Beach, Chilli Beach, Temple Bay and the Great Barrier Reef are reflected in her painting. Although Samantha was based in Cairns for many years, she is now living back on country in Lockhart River. She regularly travels to Brisbane for workshops developing new bodies of artwork for exhibitions and commissions.

A feature of Samantha’s largely ‘expressionist’ painting practice is the use of coloured pigments with estapol. Samantha’s rich bodies of work feature the layering of bright marine and rainforest colours alongside distinctive (white) sand beach compositions. The artist has exhibited nationally and internationally with major works in the National Gallery of Victoria; QAGOMA alongside other Public and University institutions.

View 2021 Willa Blo Punga (Tide of the fish) exhibition list and video here

View 2021 Which Way? exhibition here

View 2020 Fracture exhibition here

View 2019 Reef/Life exhibition here

View 2017 The Reef & Other Stories exhibition here

Story/Statement

WILLA BLO PUNGA – (tide of the fish)
Willa is the movement or rippling of the water caused by fish swimming. When we are fishing in the estuary – in a boat or from the bank - we know there are fish around because you can see the willa of the fish. That is how you know it’s a good fishing spot. Even when you are dragging a net you look for the willa to know where to drop the net.

TEMPLE BAY
Temple Bay is my Grandfather’s birthplace (nguunthal), north of Lockhart. To get there from Lockhart River you have to go by boat, about 2 hours from Portland Roads.

WUNTALPA (brown foam season)
When we see the wuntalpa (brown foam) in the estuary, that means the aayu (butterfish) will bite, and that it’s the right season for us to catch them.

PUUTAWU – (Mangrove Jack jumping in the creek)
The estuary provides a lot of food for us. We go into the mangroves and collect shells, crabs and fish. When fishing in a boat sometimes we see the water splash, and when we turn to look we see the splashes of the fish. We throw in a line and hook the Mangrove Jack.

SANDBEACH SONGLINES & WIMPA KINCHA (sacred songs)
Songline is a term that is often used to define relationships between dreaming stories, ceremony and sacred sites, knowledge that is passed down through oral tradition, song, dance and more recently fine art painting. Sandbeach Songlines captures a contemplative mood. For Samantha, this begins with a creamy white background representing the pristine sands of the Barrier Reef. Fractured and turbulent lines bleed into this tranquil background. The artist often reflects that such opposing forces echo her own turbulent life, delicately balanced between a sense of apprehension and acceptance. Sandbeach Songlines are coastal landscapes which epitomise the inseparable dualities of land and sea, culture and identity, time and healing.

FLAG WAVE/ WAVEBUST
Flag Waves / Wave Busts are ‘fractured’, coastal seascapes almost bursting with the visual clamour of a land rights street march! Some works feature the distinctive red, yellow and black colours of the Aboriginal flag– itself the centre of current copyright issues. In others, red, blue and shards of white are powerfully strewn across the canvas. This choice of flag colours, the Australian Flag, or perhaps the Union Jack, when paired next to the Aboriginal colours might be understood as a comment on a culture clash within Australia’s colonial history?

Sometimes the paintings have a hint of green and white in the bottom section which alludes to the artist’s ancestral Far North Queensland Sandbeach Country (and perhaps the Torres Straight Island flag which uses green and blue). Samantha has also painted a white Flagwave with hints of colour, suggesting a calm and neutral attitude to coexistence.

Familiar with painting the more painful aspects of life, much of Samantha’s earlier work from the late 90s and early 2000s centred on suicide and domestic violence. This recent series is less specifically issue-based but rather feed into our collective anxieties about the current world.

REEF/LIFE
Samantha Hobson’s latest series, Reef/Life shows robust stylistic development whilst still ruminating on her signature theme, and a place of great significance in her life; the reef. Samantha comments, “We are Sandbeach people and we grew up living off the reef. There are hundreds of reefs off Lockhart River, some close up we can easily get to by boat”.

The artist presents her perspective on the reef with a confidence in colour and fluidity of artistic reflection. She states;
The reef represents our lifestyle and the colours I use in paintings are strong and vivid because my memories are of bright colours of life on the reef. Under the tropical water the colours are strong with the fish flashing past, the coral and sea.

REEF SERIES
Samantha’s Reef series of paintings are all about survival. The reefs which are near the mainland at Chilli Beach and Quintell Beach are easily accessible by boat. This was where the artist’s whole family would collect food – all types of fish, clamshells, crayfish, turtle and dugong.

SANDBEACH COUNTRY / BEACHES
The artist spent time – swimming, camping, fishing - on all the beaches, including Quintell, Golden and Chilli Beach which is her grandfather’s country on her mother’s side. Samantha’s people call themselves sand beach people as their ancestors would travel the beaches and the land. Kuther Creek Beach, both a beach and creek, south of the old Lockhart mission, is Samantha’s favourite place.

WU'ANCHI (BUSHFIRES)
People burn fires during the dry season from November to April. They burn it for new growth and sometimes they burn it for hunting as well to bring out the animals, or, sometimes just so they can see the tracks. Young kids sometimes burn for no reason but the old people get mad with them.

RAINFOREST SERIES
The theme of survival continues through the Rainforest series. In Lockhart the rainforest meets the sea. Most of the time Samantha would go camping with big groups of families – with uncles, aunties, partners and their families. Eels, jewfish, jungle perch, bream, freshwater turtles and yabbies were also found in the creeks of the Claudie River running down from the rainforest into the reef. Berries and yams were gathered amongst the forest vines.

OLD PEOPLE
Growing up we always relied on the old people to go out in the bush with us, to hunt or to get bush fruit and yams. They also taught us what food was safe to eat and what not to eat, as well as how to cook all the traditional food. The old people were good at telling what fish was available in different seasons or what food would be available at certain times of the year. They showed us the lands where they used to camp in the olden days.
I grew up at my grandmother and grandfather’s and I went everywhere with them. They took me too many different places, sometimes we would go into the bush or we would go down to the beach and camp there. We would also stay at home, sit around a campfire, and tell stories.

The old people taught us corroboree dancing, as well as how to make our grass skirts, hand banners and headbands. Our old people taught us how to dance and do body painting. We would go out to a particular place in Lockhart and collect clay from the land.
The north and south (Eipy and Kunki) clans would dance against each other for social interaction.

Most of the old people in Lockhart have gone now, but we do still paint about them today and talk about them in our stories. We tell our children about our old people who have passed and their stories.

Courtesy of the Artist & FireWorks Gallery

SAMANTHA HOBSON

Born: 1981
Language group: Kuuku 'Yau
Homeland: Lockhart River, Cape York QLD

Began Painting: 1998
Lives and works: Lockhart River, QLD

EXHIBITONS—SOLO

2023 Lockhart Nights FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2021 Willa Blo Punga (Tide of the Fish) FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2020 Fracture FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2019 Reef/Life FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2017 The Reef & Other Stories FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2010 My Country ... My Land Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane

2009 Our Life ... Our Way Hogarth Galleries Sydney

2008 Life is our land ... our culture Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane

2008 Our life ... is land ... is culture October Gallery London England

2008 Ngayu Aalmana Ngaachi Ngatangku (Growing up with Country) Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2007 Modern Day Life Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2007 From My Country Hogarth Galleries Sydney

2006 Land to Sea Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane

2005 From My Country ... Land and sea Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2004 Yuma kuyi Pi’i (Fire and Water) Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2003 Kalmaa-na Waympa Wimpa (From the Bush to the Sand Beach) Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane

2003 Lanthalantha (Fire) Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2002 Yuku Untana (Fuel for the Fire) Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2001 ‘ee be right ... b’um ‘bye Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

EXHIBTIONS—GROUP

2023 Lineage Despard Gallery, Hobart

2022 In Review FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane

2022 Which Way? Despard Gallery, Hobart

2022 Paint the Town Queensland Regional Art Awards touring exhibition

2021 Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery

2021 Shorelines FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane

2021 Which Way? FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane

2021 Lockhart River Artists Despard Gallery, Hobart

2020 Twelve Artists FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2020 Twelve Ways FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2020 King & Wood Mallesons Art Prize Online due to COVID 19

2020 From the Sea FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2020 Lockhart Art Gang - Sharing Our Stories, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2019 Lockhart Legends, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2019 Defining Tradition | the colurists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2019 Tjanpi Desert Weavers and three Indigenous women painters Despard Gallery Hobart

2019 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane

2018 Sunshine Coast Art Prize Caloundra Regional Gallery

2018 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane

2018 King & Wood Mallesons Art Prize NSW Parliament House Sydney

2017 Sand, Salt & Spirit Coo-ee Art Gallery Sydney

2017 60 X√30 FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2017 A sweep continues: old & new works FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2010 New 2009: Selected Recent Acquisitions The University of Queensland Art Museum Brisbane

2009 Connecting With Country ... Connecting With Community: The Lockhart River Art Gang Cairns Regional Gallery Queensland

2009 Breaking Boundaries: Contemporary Indigenous Australian Art from the Collection QAGOMA Brisbane

2008 New: Selected recent acquisitions 2007–2008 The University of Queensland Art Museum Brisbane

2008 From Cape to Cape The Holmes à Court Gallery Perth

2008 The Women’s Show Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2007-08 Our Way: Contemporary Art from Queensland’s Lockhart River The University of Queensland Art Museum Brisbane National University of Singapore Singapore Charles Wang Center Stony Brook University New York USA The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia Charlottesville Virginia USA

2007 Sand : Savannah : Salt QAGOMA Brisbane

2007 Arte Indigena dall’Australia: Gruppo Artistico del Fiume Lockhart Galleria Civica d’arte Moderna Palazzo Collicola Spoleto Italy

2007 Power and Beauty: Indigenous art now Heide Museum of Modern Art Melbourne

2007 The Women’s Show Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2007 Lockhart River Art Gang Institute of American Indian Art Santa Fe New Mexico USA

2007 The Art Gang Returns Booker-Lowe Gallery Houston Texas USA

2006 Uncharted Territory October Gallery London, England

2006 Histoires de Terre et Mer: Peintures Aborigènes de Lockhart River Australie, Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie du Morbihan Lorient France

2006 Lockhart River Art Gang Ewha Art Centre Seoul South Korea

2006 The Cairns NAIDOC Exhibition 2006: shifting tides, moving sands Tanks Art Centre Cairns

2005 The Cairns NAIDOC Exhibition 2005: Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art & Crafts from Tropical North Queensland Tanks Art Centre Cairns

2005 Kungkay: Lockhart River Art Gang Gallery Gondwana Alice Springs NT

2004 Hot, Hotter, Hottest Booker-Lowe Gallery Houston Texas USA

2004 Colour Power: Aboriginal art post 1984 National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne

2004 Out of Country Gallery 1601 Washington DC USA The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia Charlottesville Virginia USA

2004 The Summer Salon 2004 Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2004 The Women’s Show Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2004 Vivien Anderson Gallery at the Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

2003 Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings from Lockhart River Columbus State University Columbus Georgia USA

2003 Kulam Kannga (Beginning): New works by the Lockhart River Art Gang The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia Charlottesville Virginia USA

2003 Beneath the Monsoon: Visions North of Capricorn Artspace Mackay Cairns Regional Gallery Perc Tucker Regional Gallery (Townsville)

2003 Water: Prints from Lockhart River and the Tiwi Islands Queensland University of Technology Art Museum Brisbane

2003 Artworks from FNQ + Torres Strait Islands Artworkers Alliance Brisbane

2003 The Women’s Show Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2003 Ngaachi Ngampula (Our Country) Hogarth Galleries Sydney

2003 Lockhart River Gang Gallery Gondwana Alice Springs

2002 Inaugural Exhibition Ian Potter Museum of Australian Art National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne

2002 The Queensland/Berlin Indigenous Art Exhibition Ludwig Erhard Haus, Berlin Germany

2002 Message Stick: journey’s end Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane

2002 Lines II FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2002 New Ground Main Street Gallery Adelaide

2001 Dreamtime: Zeitgenössische Aboriginal Art/The Dark and the Light: 18.05–30.09.2001 Kunst der Gegenwart Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg/Wien Austria

2001 Gatherings Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre Brisbane

2001 International Women’s Day Event Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2001 Postcard Exhibition Cairns Regional Gallery Cairns

2001 Masterworks Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne

2001 Cape York Art Awards Laura Festival and Cairns Regional Gallery Cairns

2000 Lockhart River Print Exhibition Cairns Regional Gallery Cairns

2000 In My Eyes Cairns Regional Gallery Cairns

2000 Belong Sandbeach: paintings and prints by the Lockhart River Art Gang Queensland Aboriginal Creations Brisbane

2000 Postcard Exhibition Cairns Regional Gallery Cairns

AWARDS

2009 People’s Choice Award, 26th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Darwin

2001 2nd Prize Painting Laura Festival Queensland

2001 Prize Works on Paper Laura Festival, Queensland

COLLECTIONS (Selected):

Artbank, Sydney NSW

Cairns Regional Gallery

Columbus State University, Georgia, USA;

Geelong Art Gallery

International Education Services Brisbane

National Gallery of Australia

National Gallery of Victoria

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Queensland Department of Education