Samantha Hobson - Ngayu Aalmana Ngaachi Ngatangku - Growing up with Cuontry

I wanted the paintings to say to people in my community ‘You don’t treat young girls like that … they got the right to their life.’ I wanted to tell every person in my Community that I’d had enough.

I sent these paintings out for Exhibitions … people need to know what’s happening. If you hide it away … no one knows there’s a problem … so how can they fix it?

Samantha has recently left the Lockhart River community and paints independently from her studio and home in Cairns. Hobson’s paintings in NGAYU AALMANA NGAACHI NGATANGKU – GROWING UP WITH COUNTRY explore the country around, and culture within, Lockhart River. Painting from memory, she invites us to witness and share her vision of the land, the sea, and the reef of spawning coral. She continues to invoke an awareness of the toughness of life in the community through paintings such as Today Life 2008, and illustrates her respect for the old times, and traditional life and law, in paintings such as Ol’man Hide 2008.

Samantha held her first solo exhibition at the age of nineteen, and has since exhibited extensively both in Australia and internationally, most recently in the University of Queensland’s exhibition Our Way: Contemporary Art from Lockhart River touring Asia, Europe and America. She will also hold her first solo exhibition in London at October Gallery later this year. Her paintings are included in major national and international collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; and The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, USA.

Since 2000, I’ve worked as a professional artist … painting for solo and group exhibitions. It’s the only work I’ve ever done. It lets me express my life and Culture. It also helps me bring up my kids and look after my family (and pay the bills).