Rosella Namok
Encyclopedia
Rosella Namok is an Indigenous Australian artist
from Lockhart River, Queensland
. Namok was taught art at high school and learned printmaking and other techniques through a community art project in 1997 that led to the formation of a group of artists known as the Lockhart River Art Gang.
Namok is notable for her paintings, and has won the 2003 High Court of Australia
Centenary Art Prize. By 2007 she had held eighteen solo exhibitions in Australia and overseas.
and Margo Neale, who bought some for the Queensland Art Gallery
and the National Gallery of Australia
. It was an extraordinary start for what became known as the Lockhart River Art Gang.
The Art Gang, of which Namok is a leading member, is distinctive for being a successful Indigenous art movement made up of young members of the community; this contrasts with movements such as Papunya Tula
, which emerged from amongst a community's traditional elders. The contrast between Namok's works and those of the central desert artists has highlighted the diversity of contemporary Indigenous art.
Youth Award for Indigenous art, for her work Kungkay and Yiipay in Salmon Season. The painting was described by the judges as marking "a fleeting, inspired moment, capturing it in a permanent patterning".
In October 2003, Namok's nine-panel painting Today Now... We All Got To Go By The Same Laws won the High Court Centenary Art Prize. Described by Justice Gleeson
of the court as a "bold, beautiful, confident and contemporary" work, it portrayed the emergence of modern law from Aboriginal pre-history. Later that same month, The Bulletin with Newsweek named Namok as amongst its ten "brightest, most creative" people in Australian arts and entertainment.
Namok is a prolific artist, and by 2007, aged 28, had held eighteen solo exhibitions, both in Australia and overseas, in locations including New York and Berlin. She is regarded as an important contemporary Australian artist whose works attract high prices in the art market.
Namok's partner is Wayne Butcher, and she has two children, Isaiah, born in September 1997, and Zane, born March 2001. While Namok lives in North Queensland, son Zane was born in Sydney: she had come to the city to submit a painting for the Wynne Prize
, but was taken straight from the airport to hospital, where she gave birth.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
from Lockhart River, Queensland
Lockhart River, Queensland
Lockhart River is a coastal Aboriginal community situated on the eastern coast of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. The population consists mostly of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, whose ancestors were forcibly moved to the area beginning in 1924...
. Namok was taught art at high school and learned printmaking and other techniques through a community art project in 1997 that led to the formation of a group of artists known as the Lockhart River Art Gang.
Namok is notable for her paintings, and has won the 2003 High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
Centenary Art Prize. By 2007 she had held eighteen solo exhibitions in Australia and overseas.
Study and early career
Namok studied art at high school and when Fran and Geoff Barker—one a former teacher, the other with experience in design and manufacturing—set up an art program for school-leavers at Lockhart River, Namok was amongst the first to learn printmaking with them in 1995. In 1997, the Barkers and artists including Namok took some of the prints to an exhibition in Canberra, where they were seen by prominent curators Betty ChurcherBetty Churcher
Betty Ann Churcher, AO is best known as director of the National Gallery of Australia from 1990 to 1997. She was also a painter in her own right earlier in her life. She won a travelling scholarship to Europe and attended the London Royal College of Art...
and Margo Neale, who bought some for the Queensland Art Gallery
Queensland Art Gallery
The Queensland Art Gallery is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre, and is located nearest to Brisbane River at South Bank...
and the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
. It was an extraordinary start for what became known as the Lockhart River Art Gang.
The Art Gang, of which Namok is a leading member, is distinctive for being a successful Indigenous art movement made up of young members of the community; this contrasts with movements such as Papunya Tula
Papunya Tula
Papunya Tula, or Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 that is owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative work with the Western Desert Art Movement, popularly referred to as "dot painting"...
, which emerged from amongst a community's traditional elders. The contrast between Namok's works and those of the central desert artists has highlighted the diversity of contemporary Indigenous art.
Recognition
Aged 21, Namok won the Australian Heritage Commission's Lin OnusLin Onus
William McLintock Onus was a Scottish-Aboriginal Artist of Wiradjuri descent from Melbourne, Australia.-Early life:Born Lin Burralung McLintock Onus, his father was political activist and businessman, Bill Onus...
Youth Award for Indigenous art, for her work Kungkay and Yiipay in Salmon Season. The painting was described by the judges as marking "a fleeting, inspired moment, capturing it in a permanent patterning".
In October 2003, Namok's nine-panel painting Today Now... We All Got To Go By The Same Laws won the High Court Centenary Art Prize. Described by Justice Gleeson
Murray Gleeson
Anthony Murray Gleeson AC QC is a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.-Biography:Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, the eldest of four children...
of the court as a "bold, beautiful, confident and contemporary" work, it portrayed the emergence of modern law from Aboriginal pre-history. Later that same month, The Bulletin with Newsweek named Namok as amongst its ten "brightest, most creative" people in Australian arts and entertainment.
Namok is a prolific artist, and by 2007, aged 28, had held eighteen solo exhibitions, both in Australia and overseas, in locations including New York and Berlin. She is regarded as an important contemporary Australian artist whose works attract high prices in the art market.
Namok's partner is Wayne Butcher, and she has two children, Isaiah, born in September 1997, and Zane, born March 2001. While Namok lives in North Queensland, son Zane was born in Sydney: she had come to the city to submit a painting for the Wynne Prize
Wynne Prize
The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. One of Australia's longest running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne...
, but was taken straight from the airport to hospital, where she gave birth.
Collections
- Art Gallery of New South WalesArt Gallery of New South WalesThe Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...
- Art Gallery of South AustraliaArt Gallery of South AustraliaThe Art Gallery of South Australia , located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in Adelaide, is the premier visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of over 35,000 works of art, making it, after the National Gallery of Victoria, the largest state...
- Art Gallery of Western AustraliaArt Gallery of Western AustraliaThe Art Gallery of Western Australia is a public gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth, Western Australia. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia...
- Museum of Contemporary Art, SydneyMuseum of Contemporary Art, SydneyThe Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia is an Australian museum solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art, both from across Australia and around the world...
- National Gallery of AustraliaNational Gallery of AustraliaThe National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
- National Gallery of VictoriaNational Gallery of VictoriaThe National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
- Queensland Art GalleryQueensland Art GalleryThe Queensland Art Gallery is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre, and is located nearest to Brisbane River at South Bank...
- Adelaide Festival CentreAdelaide Festival CentreThe Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre, was built in 1973 and opened three months before the Sydney Opera House. The Festival Centre is located approximately 50 metres north of the corner of North Terrace and King William Street, lying near the banks of the River...
- Federal Court of AustraliaFederal Court of AustraliaThe Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
- Kluge-Ruhe MuseumKluge-Ruhe MuseumThe Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia houses one of the finest indigenous Australian art collections in the world, rivaling many of the collections held in Australia...
, University of Virginia - High Court of AustraliaHigh Court of AustraliaThe High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
Awards
- 2000 – Lin Onus Youth Award, Australian Heritage Commission's Indigenous Heritage Art Awards
- 2003 – High Court of Australia Centenary Art Prize