Netta Loogatha - My Country (803-19)
Artist: Netta Loogatha
Title: My Country
Cat No: 803-19
Size: 91 x 122 cm
Acrylic on Canvas
Story:
"This is my country on Bentinck Island at Oak Tree Point. We call it Looka in our Kayardild language. I was born here at Bilmee, Dog Story Place."
Biography:
Netta Loogatha
Birrmuyingathi Maali
Born: circa 1942
Origin: Dulkawalne - Bentinck Island
Language: Kayardild
"It's good to make artworks, learn from each other. We learned all about our country and story places from our old people. Now we are painting and drawing them so our grandchildren will learn all about them.
"Our Aunty Sally Gabori showed us the way, to learn from her and follow in her footsteps. We have our own paintings and drawings now of our homelands and sacred places, where we were born, oyster reefs and waterholes or camping spots. I am happy to show other people my country and culture through my art. It brings a smile to my face when I finish an artwork and see a part of me on it.
"I was born on Bentinck Island at a place on the Northern side called Bilmee. We lived in humpies then - no clothes nothing at all. I learnt to hunt from an early age, how to fish and collect shellfish, how to gather foods from the bush. I was young when the Europeans came in 1946 to take us away from our home and forced us to live on Mornington Island in the dormitory in the mission there.
"My father was King Alfred, he had six wives. When he died, his brother Percy took over the family and took care of us. When I grew up I went to the mainland and worked as a housemaid like a lot of the young girls from the island. I enjoyed this time being young and having fun. I returned to Mornington and became strongly involved in Land Rights and my people's wish to return to our homeland. I was a grandmother by the time we returned to our homeland and I use to live there most of the year, only returning to Mornington for the wet season. Now I am getting too old to live there. I cry for an opportunity to set my foot on my homeland again. My artworks have become even more important to me to keep my memories of my home and culture ever strong."
Solo Exhibitions:
2019: Netta Loogatha: Bilmee, Dog Story Place : Wooloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane QLD
2013: Netta Loogatha - New Painngs : Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
Group Exhibitions:
2019: Queensland Regional Art Awards Flying Arts : Wanderlust
2019 Out Station Gallery 2018 : Darwin NT
2019 2018 Salon Gallery : Darwin NT
2019 2018 CIAF-Connection to Country : Cairns Qld
2019 DAAF : Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair
2018 Tanks Arts Centre : Cairns, Qld
2018 CIAF Indigenous Fashion Performance - Wandan (Future) : Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns QLD
2017 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair - Curated Exhibition: Family Values : Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns QLD
2017 Land of All - Dulka Wangiid : Art Mob, Hobart, TAS
2016 Finalist Exhibition of Kennedy Prize on Painting : Kennedy Arts Foundation, SA
2016 Finalist Exhibition of Swan Hill Print & Drawing Acquisitive Awards : Swan Hill Regional Gallery,Swan Hill VIC
2016 CIAF Birrimbi Dulgu Bajal Indigenous Fashion Performance : Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program
2016 MI Art, MI Fashion, Mi Models : Where art meets fashion. Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program at Alcaston
2016 Colour Forms: Paintings & Sculpture From Mornington Island : Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2016 Finalist Exhibition of Adelaide Perry Prize For Drawing : Adelaide Perry Gallery, Sydney NSW
2016 My Island Home : Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2015 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair : Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, QLD
2015 Currents: Trends & Movements in Queensland Indigenous ArtCentres Exhibition : Tanks Art Centre, Cairns QLD
2015 Warriors, Sorcerers & Spirits : KickArts Contemporary Arts, Carins QLD
2015 Sorority - International Women's Day Exhibition : Tanks Art Centre, Cairns QLD
2015 Indigenous Art: Moving Backwards into the Future : National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne VIC
2015 Public Art Exhibition G20 Summit - Colour Me Brisbane : Brisbane QLD
2014 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair : MI Art & Alcaston Gallery, Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, QLD
2014 Pencil, Paint, Paper - Seascapes of Bentinck Island : Alcaston, Melbourne
2014 Kinship - A Celebration of Fine Arts from Far North Queensland Indigenous Art Centre : Tanks Art Centre, Cairns QLD
2013 My Country - I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia : QAG/GOMA, Brisbane QLD
2013 An Architects Eye : KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns QLD
2013 Artists from Bentinck Island & Mornington Island, Queensland : Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2012 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair : MI Art & Alcaston Gallery, Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, QLD
2012 Korea International Art Fair : Seoul, South Korea
2011 Arsts From Mornington Island Art : Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2011 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair : Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, QLD
2011 Paining Country: Recent Acquisitions of Indigenous Art : University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane QLD
2011 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair : Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD
2010 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair : Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, Cairns, QLD
2009 Bentinck Island Arsts : Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2009 Painters of Bentinck Island : Ra Artspace, Alice Spring NT
2008 Bandikawaanda Makuwalada Rarunginja Thaand - Return of Kaiadilt Women : Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2008 Dulka Warngiid Bentinck Is Arsts featuring Nea Loogatha : Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2007 Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award : Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2007 Painters of Bentinck Island : Ra Art Space, Darwin NT
2007 Painting Up Country: New Art Form The Mornington and Bentinck Islands : KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns QLD
2007 Lardil, Kaiadilt, Yangkaal : Wooloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane QLD
2007 Mornington Island Art featuring Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori : Depot Gallery, Sydney; Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2007 24th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award : Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin NT
2007 Melbourne Art Fair : Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne VIC
2006 Sally Gabori & Introducing the Bentinck Island Art Gang : Grantpirrie Art Gallery, Redfern NSW
2006 Big Ones Little Ones : Boomali, Sydney NSW
2006 Bentinck Island Project : Wooloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane QLD
2006 Birrmuyi : Wooloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane QLD
Awards:
2016 Finalist Swan Hill Print & Drawing Acquisitive Awards
2016 Finalist Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing
2016 Finalist Kennedy Prize for Painting
2007 Finalist Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2007 Finalist 24th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Bibliography:
2005 Mornington Island Arts & Crafts, Gununa Mornington Island, Wooloongabba Art Gallery
2006 The Bentinck Project, Wooloongabba Art Gallery 2007 Sorensen, Rosemary, 'Confounding Expectations', Art Monthly, Issue 202, August
2007 McLean, Bruce, Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award
2007, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane 2007 Machan, Kim, 'Art Notes QLD - National Emerging Indigenous Artists,' Art Monthly, Issue 202, August
2008 The Heart of Everything: The Art and Artists of Mornington & Bentinck Islands, Mornington Island Arts and Crafts, McCulloch & McCulloch Australian Art Books Pty Ltd
2013 Kinship - A Celebration of Fine Art From Far North Queensland Indigenous Art Centres, Tanks Art Centre
2013 Museum Voor Hedendaagse Aboriginal Kunst Annual Report, p. 13
2013 My Country - I Still Call Australia Home, QAGOMA Preview Jun-Aug 2013 p. 13
2015 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Judith Ryan, National Gallery of Victoria
Collections:
Artbank
Leeuwin Estate, Margaret River, Western Australia
Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Private Collections:
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
The John Mainwaring Collection
The Lagerberg - Swift Collection
The Marshall Collection
The Merenda Collection University of Western Sydney, Sydney
UQ Art Museum - The University of Queensland, Brisbane
