Fiona Omeenyo b. 1981
35 3/8 x 59 1/8 in
Fiona Omeenyo is member of the Lockhart River Art Gang who is rapidly gaining a strong reputation for her distinctive style and use of colour. In 2001 her solo exhibition sold out on the opening night and her shows have been consistently successful since then. Fiona was born in 1981 and has been a member of the Art Gang since the late 1990s. Her imagery is based on key stories from the Umpila language group, and they relate to their history, their ancestor spirits, and to their relationship to their land. A recurring theme in her work is the Umpila clan story of Miiku who stole the two ancestral parrot-sisters before their planned marriage to Kuchuuy, the sea eagle. The sisters create the story place for her traditional country at Chester River. Fiona says: "I like to paint about country and stories passed on to me by my family… it's good to understand these stories so I can tell my kids about these story places and why they are important to our family." Fiona Omeenyo first appeared on the contemporary art scene in the late 1990s as one of the more prominent members of the newly established Far North Queensland’s renowned Lockhart River ‘Art Gang’. A small and remote community, Lockhart River is located eight hundred kilometres north of Cairns on the Eastern Cape York Peninsula. Growing up, she experienced traditional life - such as camping, fishing, gathering berries - within and around the Lockhart River, Claudie River, Quintell Beach, Chilli Beach, Great Barrier Reef, and the Iron Range (Kutini-Payamu) National Park. More recently, Omeenyo has been living and working in Cairns as well as completing private and corporate commissions in Brisbane studios. Her paintings continue to reflect both traditional stories and contemporary themes associated with cultural, social and environmental concerns. The artists figurative compositions represent blood line, which connects ancestral spirits with kin relationships amidst coastal beach and reef imagery. Through supernatural manner, ancestors exist simultaneously with the present-day generation. Omeenyo’s works are currently held in private and public collections both nationally and internationally including National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Cairns Regional Gallery, University of Queensland Art Museum, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, International Education Services (IES) and the Thomas Vroom Collection Netherlands.
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