Suzanne O’Connell Gallery presents Naomi Hobson’s “A Journey to the East” solo exhibition. This exhibition is an evolving personal exploration through my father’s country on the East coast of the Cape York Peninsula. Because I live on my country, I feel blessed to see it change every day. Every trip out to the coast brings something new and unexpected; where there was a sandbank there is now a river crossing and where there used to open woodland there is rainforest. I just want to keep exploring and being with my country and having that feeling of not wanting to leave any stone unturned. Through my art I am freely expressing my joy at this and the relationship I have with my country.

"In this series of works I am inviting you to my place, where I am free to be. I am taking you up close and personal; exploring and discovering, just as I do. This is an interpretation of my land from deep memory that is intrinsic to my being. These works are an exploration into colour, landscape and my everyday life. My paintings are layered with memories and coming from a place of confidence, they tell my story. I spend a lot of time on my traditional lands, every day I am exploring, on country and in the studio."
Naomi Hobson

Naomi Hobson is a Visual Artist who resides on the banks of the riverbeds where her grandparents were born. Her residence is an old tin shed that was once her village church. Her colourful abstract compositions act as a link between individuality and a shared identity. Her continual inspiration is the vast traditional lands of her ancestors surrounding the town of Coen in Queensland and her culture.

Naomi Hobson works across diverse media, painting, ceramics and photography. She is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

Naomi Hobson, 2018. © Naomi Arts

"Coen is my home and the people and country mean everything to me.

I have always painted in my own personal space where I feel most comfortable including my back veranda, in the dry river beds, on the banks of my childhood fishing places as well as at the camp sites that my families have lived and spent time for thousands of years. I will take time to look at the miniature things, the tiny things that nature hides.

My country has inspired me to become an artist, the colours and pattern of nature itself, stories from the past, the unique transformation of the land over the seasons…and my own special places that are etched in my memory, these are places I regularly visit. It is through my art I aim to reflect and share with others in a contemporary way, my stories, culture and my country.

My style also reflects my individuality... I want my work to tell my stories in an innovative way, I want to introduce new work, to maintain a point off difference, I am wary to re-define and not recycle."

Naomi Hobson