Rosella Namok

Rosella Namok is a member of the Lockhart River Art Gang. This is a group of young, Aboriginal artists from the east coast area of Cape York. Rosella’s paintings are very contemporary in style, and she depicts her own stories about life in her isolated Aboriginal community, about the people around her, how they live and the things they do. She also paints about the country in Lockhart River and the influences of the weather there. Rosella spends a lot of time with the senior women at Lockhart. The younger generation aren’t as interested in the traditional laws and cultural influences, so Rosella is incorporating many of these aspects of her community history into her paintings, to prevent them from being lost forever. Rosella uses her fingers in a style derived from the sand drawing style taught by her grandmother. While only a young artist, Rosella’s work is included in numerous national and international collections. Her work is often viewed as taking Aboriginal art in a new direction, linking the traditional with the modern.

Artist Story

I am a member of the Lockhart River Art Gang. This is a group of young Aboriginal Artists from the east coast of Cape York. I mainly paint but also work with printmaking. My work is modern but sometimes I paint about traditional Aboriginal culture and stories in my own style.
I paint about country and people around me … about traditional culture… about things that happen … things we do … the weather … our isolated Community. My recent paintings have been about how people live in our community and about country.
I have a young son, Isaiah who was born in September, 1997 and Zane Sydney who was born in March 2001.
Lots of my family live in Lockhart River … plenty of relations here. I enjoy fishing and camping with my family and I also enjoy my art.