Josiah Omeenyo

My name is Josiah Omeenyo. I represent the Kanthanampu-Claudie River and Umpila-Pataku River, north-east of Coen. My Dad’s family comes from Darnley Erub, a sailor family.

I am from a family of three. I have a son Taren Omeenyo and daughter Timisha Casey.

I worked for several organizations in Cairns in the past but now work for as an artist and mentor. I am a Certificate III teacher.

I am a cultural leader and have taken children around for various cultural festivals as song and dance ensembles.

Uptil now my focus was on dance but recently I have greatly felt the pull towards the visual arts, especially painting. I’ve been doing dancing and singing for so long, I learnt it from my grand-parents and parents, then something was bothering me, saying softly “Can you paint?” and I said to myself, in my head quietly “Yes, you can.”

So I went to the local art gallery (Lockhart River Art Centre) and began my career as a painter. My mother is an artist at making weaving baskets. I had my first exhibition in Brisbane the other day, where we danced for ceremony with my elder and a young man. My paintings reflect the landscape and clan groups.