PROFILE
At home with the Hortons Dame Rosemary Horton and her husband Michael have amassed one of Australia’s most extensive private collections of contemporary Indigenous art. WORDS RHONDA OXNAM
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YOU PROBABLY wouldn’t expect to find one of Australia’s significant collections of contemporary Aboriginal art in a private home on the Gold Coast … and you certainly wouldn’t expect it to be
Rosie, as she prefers to be called, fell in love with Indigenous artwork almost 15 years ago and as the collection has grown so has her passion for the people and the culture behind it.
“The following year when we did another trip, I took Michael in and we bought some pieces. Ever since then the collection, and our love for Aboriginal art, has continued to expand.”
owned by a New Zealand couple who are well known for their philanthropic endeavours. However that is exactly what I discovered when I met with Dame Rosemary Horton and her husband Michael at their Sanctuary Cove holiday home.
“I had never seen really, really fabulous contemporary Australian Aboriginal art until I went to Darwin prior to going on a trip on the Orion in 2001,” she explains. “I just happened to go into the Karen Brown Gallery and what I saw was so compelling it haunted me.
Michael and Rosie were drawn to the fresh artistic expression – the colours, shape and form. They have focused on contemporary Aboriginal art away from the traditional dots and circles. It is art that tells stories and deals with contemporary issues, some political, others allegorical. >>