STUDIO education resource - Museums & Galleries NSW

ROSELLA NAMOK
ROSELLA NAMOK
CAIRNS, QLD
Rosella Namok is part of a group of young artists known as the Lockhart
River Art Gang who are all from the remote community of Lockhart River in
Cape York in far north Queensland.
A few years ago Namok moved south to Cairns where she now has a studio
in a converted double garage alongside her house. Ian Lloyd’s photograph
shows Namok in her Cairns studio, which is large enough to make paintings
like Big Rain…w’re Aangkum 2005 which is over 3 metres long.
Namok paints using her fingers – creating contours and patterns in acrylic
paint. This technique shows the influence of her grandmother who made
sand drawings and her father, whom Namok helped as a young girl to paint
the bodies of dancers for ceremonies. Namok paintings are often about
the natural environment of Lockhart River and she also tells the stories of
her people through her paintings. Namok says, ‘they always tell me lots of
stories. My grandmother yarns, tells me things about the old mission, and
the strong laws they used to have. That really helps me understand those
days’.
People and place are interconnected for Namok. Big Rain…w’re Aangkum
2005 shows the wet season torrents but also refers to Namok’s language
group through the use of the word Aangkum. Her paintings connect climate,
country and kin.
Born in 1979 Namok was just 20 when she had her first exhibition.
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See more of the artist’s works:
www.andrew-baker.com/Rosella%20Namok_Ngatangku%20Ngaachi.pdf
Learn more about this artist:
www.artmuseum.uq.edu.au/docs/OurWayEducationKit.pdf
Visually and
conceptually compare Angus
Nivison’s work to Namok’s.
What are the similarities?
What are the differences?
Australia has a long tradition
of telling yarns. Both Namok
and Julie Dowling do
this through their artwork.
Create a yarn about Ian
Lloyd’s journey to visit and
photograph each artist.
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