Next Generation: Lockhart River 'Old Girls'
Garroway, on top 2008
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
112 x 174 cm
Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2009
Courtesy of the artist and Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane
30 January – 26 April 2009
Known affectionately in their Aboriginal community as the ‘Old Girls’, these women elders of Lockhart River were instrumental in developing the internationally recognised Lockhart River Art Gang youth art movement.
Today, the women elders themselves have taken up producing art and creating new ways of depicting life in their far north Queensland coastal community. The woven puunya (baskets) and the bark ulku are crafted by traditional techniques handed down over many generations, while contemporary acrylic paintings take inspiration from the natural elements of the Lockhart River landscape and other details of their lives.