NAOMI HOBSON
NAOMI HOBSON
Artist Naomi Hobson in front of her design for ‘The Royal Harvest’ tapestry at the Australian Tapestry Workshop in, 2021
NAOMI HOBSON
Born 1979, Australia
Kaantju/Umpila
Naomi Hobson is an Aboriginal artist of Southern Kaantju heritage who works across painting, photography, and sculpture. She lives in the remote community of Coen, Cape York, Far North Queensland, where her grandfather was born. Her home, and studio, is a tin shack, formerly the little town’s chapel. The Coen River - Wukaanta - which flows through the town, is the heart of both the community and the region’s abundant wildlife. Coen is alive with butterflies.
Hobson’s paintings explore her understanding of, and connection to, the land of her ancestors, with an arresting boldness. They are images alive with the shimmering of colour and light. Her approach - with its almost graphic arrangement of coloured forms - is both rooted in tradition, and alive with her own individual vision.
Her photographic works are at once documentary and romantic. In her arresting series of photographic portraits, A Warrior without a Weapon (2018), Hobson presents, with both sensitivity and directness, a group of ten Kaantju and Umpila boys, men, and elders from her community. Shot against a neutral background, the sitters share their cultural practice of adorning their beards with bush flowers in preparation for ceremony.
Studio portraits of Indigenous peoples have historically been taken by non-Indigenous photographers. In this significant body of work Hobson subverts all notions of voyeurism inherent to her chosen motif by exposing the kinship lines between artist and subject. In alluding to ceremonial customs of dressing the body with the native flora of her Country, Hobson brings a nuanced and complex approach to stereotypical gender roles- to compelling visual effect.
The Large Blue Lagoon Waterlily, 2025 acrylic on linen
140 x 140 cm
Big Rain Coming, 2025
acrylic on linen
160 x 140 cm
Blushing Field, 2022
acrylic on linen
201 x 146 cm
Across The Grassland, 2025
acrylic on linen
160 x 140 cm
Installation shot, 2022
(detail) Summer Rains, 2025
acrylic on linen
200 x 300 cm
Wet Season Sky, 2025
acrylic on linen
160 x 140 cm
Edge Of the River, 2020
acrylic on linen
219 x 251 cm
Storm out Sea, 2025
acrylic on linen
160 x 140 cm
Grandmother Moon, 2025
acrylic on linen
160 x 140 cm
Honeyeaters Flock to the Masses of Large Red Bottlebrush that Line the River Edge, 2024 acrylic on linen
100 x 100 cm
‘These photographs represent a true picture of our way of life. They are intimate pictures of river life and my connection to Country. Living on the river is part of our daily existence and defines who we are as people from Coen, how we look and how we live. The river is spiritually important to us. It represents our history. Our people are buried along the riverand there are special birthing sites. The river has fed us for thousands of years - we have laid on the sandbanks and looked at the same star constellations as our ancestors. For us it’s life. This series of photographs tells our river story.’
Delicate, 2024
pigment print on archival cotton rag paper
174 x 116.5 cm
Fragility, 2024 pigment print on archival cotton rag paper
116.5 x 174 cm
A Warrior Without A Weapon 4, 2018 pigment print on archival cotton rag paper
90 x 90 cm
A Warrior Without A Weapon 7, 2018 pigment print on archival cotton rag paper 90 x 90 cm
A Warrior Without A Weapon 8, 2018 pigment print on archival cotton rag paper 90 x 90 cm
NAOMI HOBSON
BORN: 1979
LANGUAGE: KAANTJU/UMPILA
LIVES: COEN, FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
Winner, Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Award, Queensland Regional Art Awards, Brisbane, QLD
Honourable Mention, Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Photography Award, Paris, France
Winner, Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Geelong Gallery, Geelong, VIC
Collaboration with Mecca & the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne VIC
“Royal Harvest” painting woven by Australian Tapestry Workshop for tenth Embassy Tapestry
Winner, Photography Award, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns, QLD
Highly Commended, (Malkarti Poles – ceramics) Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns, QLD
Winner, 39th The Alice: National Contemporary Art Award, Alice Springs, NT
COLLECTIONS:
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, NSW
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydnry NSW
Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, QLD
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
Araluen Art Collection, Alice Springs, NT
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, VIC
HOTA – Home of the Arts, Surfers Paradise QLD
Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, VIC
Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns, QLD
ArtBank, Sydney, NSW
Macquarie University Art Collection, Sydney, NSW
State Library of Queensland, Brisbane QLD
Cairns Regional Council Collection, Cairns, QLD
Stuartholme School, Toowong, Queensland, Australia
US Consul General, Brisbane, QLD
International Education Services, Indigenous Art Collection, Brisbane, QLD
Sir Elton John Collection, London UK
Christian Louboutin Collection, France
Brocard-Estrangin Collection, France
Leeuwin Estate Collection, Margaret River WA
City of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC
MECCA, Melbourne VIC
Maquarie Group, Sydney NSW
Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre,
South Murwillumbah NSW
The Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, QLD
The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, VIC
US Consul General, QLD
Viva Energy Australia, Melbourne, VIC
Dame Quentin Bryce Collection
Dame Rose Horton Collection
Hon Tony Burke MP Collection
Smith, B. ‘Naomi Hobson captures youthful life in a remote community’, Art Guide, June, 2O23
Miller, L. , ‘Naomi Hobson’, Artist Profile, p. 82-87, Iss. 63, 2O23
‘Artist colours her view of life on country’, The Australian, 29 Oct, 2O21
‘Representation & Reality with Artist Naomi Hobson’, City Mag Adelaide, 29 Oct, 2O2O,
‘A Bigger Picture’, Peppermint Magazine, p.45-47, Iss.47, 2O2O
Marsh, W. ‘Tarnanthi Meets the Challenges & Closed Borders of 2O2O with ‘Open Hands’’, Adelaide Review, 25 Aug, 2O2O
‘Hobson reveals the true nature of the warrior’, Bendigo Advertiser, 11 Jan, 2O19
Fairley, G. ‘Review: Naomi Hobson, Adolescent Wonderland, Cairns Art Gallery (QLD)’ ArtsHub, 16th July, 2O19
Wagstaff, C. ‘Art Collector Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2O19 (Special Edition)’, FROM THE EARTH, July, pp. 46-47, 2O19
Journal of Australian Ceramics, My Connection with Clay, Vol.58 No.3, Nov, pp. 94-95, 2O19
‘New Beginnings, Naomi Hobson’, Artichaut, Oct iss #5, 2O19
Elliot, S. ‘ArtLines’ Malkarti Poles (Dancing Poles), Issue 1, March, pp. 54-55, 2O18
McCabe, ‘T. Creative Minds: Conversations with Creative Women (Vol 3)’ September, 2O17
Finnane, K. ‘Alice Prize Winning Work Speaks of Country, Art History’, Alice Springs News, 18th April, 2O16
Llewellyn, ‘J. Artist under 5k: Naomi Hobson, Art Collector’, issue 77, July September, pp 126-127, 2O16
Hobson, N. ‘Process: Naomi Hobson’, Artist Profile, Iss.36, pp. 132-134, 2O16
Henderson-Smart, S. ‘Colours of Country’, OUTthere Airnorth, Iss. 127, January, pp. 32-33, 2O15
Mckay, P. ‘Goma Q: Contemporary Queensland Art’, Artlink Magazine, Queensland Art Gallery, pp 1O-11, 2O15
‘Goma Q: Contemporary Queensland Art, (exh cat)’, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, pp.54-55, 2O15
Hobson, N. ‘Comment: Reform Help Cape York Community, Potshots from Afar’, Brisbane Times, 12 Dec, 2O15
‘Debutantes – 5O things Collectors need to know’, Art Collector, Iss. 67, Jan-March, 2O14
Halves, T. ‘Naomi Hobson: Painting with Local Ingredients’, ADFAS Bulletin, 2O14
