Fiona Omeenyo

DOB: 1981
BORN: Lockhart River, QLD
LANGUAGE GROUP: Umpila
COMMUNITY: Lockhart River, QLD

Fiona appeared on the contemporary art scene in the late 1990s as part of ‘The Art Gang’ – first exhibiting her work in 1998. She had her first solo show in 2001 in Broome, Western Australia. Fiona’s work was featured in ‘Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest’ at the Queensland Art Gallery in 2003.

The Quinken figures found in Sandbeach rock art dominate Fiona’s art and reveals the Lockhart River Mob’s new thinking about traditions and conventions; how Indigenous Australian cultural traditions are regenerated and renewed. Fiona is very skilled in conveying how the past is embedded in the present, with many of her figures appearing to emanate from the stream of life running behind them.

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 Spoletto Italy. Her works have also been published under copyright licensing in electronic and print mediums both within Australia and Internationally.

Fiona’s work has been widely exhibited in Australian galleries since winning her first art award in 2001. She has had 15 solo exhibitions and over 40 group exhibitions, as well as being represented in many private and public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria and QUT Art Museum.

COLLECTIONS
• Thomas Vroom Collection, Netherlands
• ATSIC Collection
• National Gallery of Victoria
• Deptartment of Native Title Services
• Cairns Regional Gallery, QLD
• Queensland University of Technology
• Northern Territory University
• Wollongong University Collection, NSW

STATEMENT
I’m a member of the Lockhart River Art Gang. We’re a group of Aboriginal Artists from the east coast of Cape York in Far North Queensland. I mainly do paintings on canvas although sometimes I do printing and sculpture. The paintings I’m painting now are about traditional family and everyday things. I paint about my home and country through my painting. No matter where you go, you’re still carrying the stories that elders and family tell you and memories for a life-time.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
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
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 – My Story: Miiku, Parrot Sisters and Kuchuutu – Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane
2001 – From Here to There – Short Street Gallery, Broome Western Australia

Selected Group Exhibitions
2017 – Lockhart River Mob – Kate Owen Gallery, Rozelle
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
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 Aborigines 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