Naomi Hobson
Naomi Hobson (born 1978) is an Indigenous Australian artist of southern Kaantju and Umpila heritage from Lockhart River, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. She works in many media, including painting, photography and ceramics. She started exhibiting in 2013. Hobson was winner of the Alice Prize, a national prize for contemporary art, in 2016, and of the inaugural Cairns Indigenous Art Fair Photography Award in 2018, and has been a finalist in many other awards, including the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. Early life and education. Hobson was born in 1979 and grew up in Coen  in Far North Queensland, where the natural environment inspired her early artistic works. Her grandfather named her ""Yikan"", after the hoop pine that grows in the McIlwraith Ranges of the east coast of Cape York Peninsula. She Her grandfather was employed as a stockman for a white family. Her parents are both Aboriginal Australians: her mother is of southern Kaantju people and her father is Umpila. Her family has historically been involved in political and social reforms such as land rights, to return social and economic benefits to the traditional people of Coen. Hobson's art is an expression of  her engagement in these reforms, by showing culture, country and identity in the artworks. Her inspiration is the richness of many cultures – village life influenced by the merging of traditional and popular culture, farming culture and the experience of the urban chaos of South East Asia. Career. Hobson began her artistic career in 2007. From 2013 until (?) she has held a solo exhibition each year. A first ever solo exhibition, "I am Yikan", took its name from her indigenous name, and was an exploration of self identity through bright layers of color and depictions of the landscape of Cape York . The exhibition at Alcaston Gallery in Fitzroy, was a sold out show and it was opened by Minister Tony Burke who was at the time the Minister for Arts. The exhibition ran from 4 to 28 June 2013. Naomi Hobson is a regular exhibitor at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair. In 2018 her first international exhibition, "New Beginnings", was held in Singapore's Redot Fine Art Gallery. Hobson is represented by two galleries, the Redot Art Gallery in Singapore and the Vivien Anderson Gallery in Melbourne. Style, media and themes. Hobson is a visual artist who works in a range  of media, including painting, photography and ceramics. She is known for her contemporary artworks full of vibrant colour and dynamic intricate shapes which imitate nature. Hobson paints her father's country of the East coastal regions of Cape York Northern Queensland. Hobson's visual art is an abstract interpretation of her culture and the social and political history of her family and the ancestors before her. She lives and works in the small township of Coen (population 300), where her family connection is strong. The geographical features of the region including the contours of the McIlwraith Range, the ocean and  waterways are prominent in her paintings. Personal life. Hobson still resides on the riverbed where her grandparents were born. Her home is an old tin shed that was once the village church.