ARTWORK DETAILS - PAINTING - ABORIGINAL

FIONA OMEENYO was born in August 1981. She is from Lockhart River Queensland Australia. She is one of the original Lockhart River Art Gang members. Fiona paints ancestral spirits and themes her other works on the parrot sisters story from her country. She developed her painting skills during the formative years of Lockhart River’s arts emergence in the 90’s and has established a solid footprint within Australia and the International art space specific to Indigenous Australian Art. She has exhibited extensively in solo and Lockhart River group exhibitions since 2001 in Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Tasmania, Canberra, Darwin and Alice Springs in NT, Laura in Queensland, Berlin Germany, Manhattan New York, Houston Texas, New Mexico USA, London UK, Brittany France and Spoleto Italy.

Fiona’s works have also been published under copyright licensing in electronic and print mediums both within Australia and Internationally. Fiona has also worked independently for 4 years. In January 2016, she renewed her membership with Lockhart River Arts Indigenous Corporation and has returned into the group’s portfolio. Fiona is an active and valuable member artist.

Artist Statement:

“The paintings I'm painting now are about traditional family and everyday things. I still remember my home and country through my paintings even though we don't have many elders or family with us these days to tell new stories. No matter where you go, I keep these stories and memories for a life time”. - Fiona Omeenyo

Collections:

Thomas Vroom Collection, Netherlands; Wollongong University Collection, NSW; ATSIC Collection; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Department of Native Title Collection; Northern Territory University Collection, Darwin; Cairns Regional Gallery, Queensland; Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane; Foundation Burkhardt-Felder et Culture Musee de l’art Aboriegene Australien “La Grange” in Switzerland.

CV:

FIONA OMEENYO CV Born: 1981 Lockhart River, QLD Region: Eastern Cape York Peninsula (Lockhart River) Language: Umpila Lives and works: Cairns, QLD EXHIBITIONS—SOLO (SELECTED) 2019 Ancestor Spirits at Double Stone FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2016 Malu (Deep Water) FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2008 Mepla Sandbeach People Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane 2007 Mepla One (We are one) Emerge Art Space Perth 2007 New Life Niagara Galleries Melbourne 2007 Fiona Omeenyo Hogarth Galleries Sydney 2006 Big Step Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane 2005 Mepla Go Long Way Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane 2005 Mepla Ngaachi Long Way (Our Home is Far Away) Hogarth Galleries Sydney 2004 Journey On Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane 2004 Niagara Galleries Melbourne 2003 Wunnem Me For Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane 2002 Future Perfect Niagara Galleries Melbourne 2002 Kukiya Hogarth Galleries Sydney 2001 Ngaachi Pathaco (My Home) Hogarth Galleries Sydney 2001 From Here to There Short Street Gallery Broome Western Australia 2001 My Story: Miiku, Parrot Sisters and Kuchuutu Andrew Baker Art Dealer Brisbane GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED) 2021 Shorelines FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 2021 Which Way? FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 2021 Lockhart River Artists Despard Gallery, Hobart 2020 Twelve Artists FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2020 Twelve Ways FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2020 Figuratively Speaking FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2020 Lockhart Art Gang - Sharing Our Stories, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2020 Figuratively Speaking FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2019 Montalto Sculpture Prize VIC 2019 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane 2019 Overcoming Adversity, ARtMob, Hobart, TAS 2019 Lunar Legacy, ArtMob, Hobart, TAS 2019 Lockhart Legends, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2019 International Women's Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2019 Stories from my heart - Which Way, Art Mob, Hobart, TAS 2019 The Colourists - Kate Owen Gallery, Rozelle 2019 On the Coast - The Art of Fiona Omeenyo & Rosella Namok, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA 2018 Fiona Omeenyo & Rosella Namok, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA 2018 Small Mercies FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2018 Welcome TWO (Thompson Street) FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2017 Sand, Salt & Spirit Coo-ee Art Gallery Sydney 2017 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane 2017 60 X√30 FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2017 A Sweep Continues FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2017 Downlands Art Exhibition Toowoomba 2016 She Walks the Line Part 2 FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2016 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane 2014 QLD Gals FireWorks Gallery Brisbane 2014 Melbourne Art Fair Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne 2012 Reunion: New paintings by Samantha Hobson, Rosella Namok and Fiona Omeenyo Vivien Anderson Caulfield North VIC 2007 Our Way: Contemporary Art from Queensland’s Lockhart River University of Queensland Art Museum Brisbane and Charles Wang Center Stony Brook University New York USA 2007 Looking Forward, Looking Black Kick Arts Cairns 2006 Uncharted Territory October Gallery London England 2006 Histoires de Terre et Mer: Peintures Aborigènes de Lockhart River Australie Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie du Morbihan Lorient France 2006 Lockhart River Art Gang Ewha Art Centre Seoul South Korea 2006 Art for Science Murdoch Research Institute Melbourne 2005 Aboriginal Art Show Booker-Lowe Gallery Houston Texas USA 2005 Group Show Framed Gallery Darwin 2005 Land of Diversity Hogarth Galleries Sydney 2004 Colour Power: Aboriginal art post 1984 National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne 2004 Out of Country Gallery 1601 Washington DC USA and The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art 2004 Collection of the University of Virginia Charlottesville Virginia USA 2004 Hitting On and Kicking Off Centre of Contemporary Arts/KickArts Cairns Queensland \ 2004 QUT Art Museum Indigenous Art Collection: Works from the Oodgeroo Collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Queensland University of Technology Brisbane 2004 Big Country Gondwana Gallery Alice Springs NT 2003 Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane 2003 Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings from Lockhart River Columbus State University Columbus Georgia USA 2003 Kulam Kannga (Beginning): New works by the Lockhart River Art Gang The Kluge- Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia Charlottesville Virginia USA 2003 Beneath the Monsoon: Visions North of Capricorn Artspace Mackay Cairns Regional Gallery Perc Tucker Regional Gallery (Townsville) 2003 Water: Prints from Lockhart River and the Tiwi Islands Queensland University of Technology Art Museum Brisbane 2002 The Queensland/Berlin Indigenous Art Exhibition Ludwig Erhard Haus Berlin Germany 2001 Laura Award Winners Cairns Regional Gallery Queensland 2000 The Art of Place—Fifth National Indigenous Heritage Art Awards Old Parliament House Canberra 2000 In my eyes—Lockhart River Art Gang and Friends Cairns Regional Gallery 1999–2001 Message Stick touring exhibition by the Lockhart River Art Gang funded by Visions Australia PUBLISHED MATERIAL (SELECTED) 2007 Bennie, Angela. The old people today are not sure about this abstraction thing, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18–19 August 2007 2007 Butler, Sally. Our Way: Contemporary Art from Lockhart River, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2007 2006 Crawford, Ashley, Fiona Omeenyo: New Life, Niagara Publishing, Melbourne, 2006 2006 McCulloch, Alan; McCulloch, Susan; and McCulloch Childs, Emily. The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions/The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2006 2003 Helmrich, Michele, Unlocking Lockhart: Young artists are reinventing their culture—and commanding attention in the art world—with their fresh and contemporary painting, Outback, Issue 31, Oct/Nov 2003 2003 Martin-Chew, Louise. Tales of the far north: Rare Aboriginal works make a spirited exhibition, The Weekend Australian, 26–27 July 2003 2003 Brown, Phil, Life Blood: Lockhart River artist Fiona Omeenyo meditates on kinship and community in her latest sought-after works, Brisbane News, 18–24 June 2003 2003 Wilson, Gavin. Beneath the Monsoon: Visions North of Capricorn, Artspace Mackay, Queensland [ex. cat.] 2002 Strickland, Katarina. Cape of good hope, The Weekend Australian, 20–21 July 2002 COLLECTIONS ATSIC Collection Cairns Regional Gallery Department of Native Title Services International Education Services Brisbane Mater Mothers’ Hospital National Gallery of Australia National Gallery of Victoria Northern Territory University Thomas Vroom Collection Netherlands Queensland University of Technology Art Museum University of Queensland Art Museum Wollongong University