Jack Green, Nancy McDinny, Stewart Hoosan
Borroloola, NT
"For tens of thousands of years, our old people lived in and cared for the Country. They kept the songs, the ceremonies and the sacred places safe. They worked together under our Law to care for all these important places while looking after all the Country and passing on the songs, ceremonies and the Law through hundreds of generations of our people. In the 1870s, things changed ... it was a terrifying time ... this hurts us deeply."
About the Artist
This collaborative piece is painted by preeminent artists Jack Green, Stewart Hoosan and Nancy McDinny from Waralungku Arts in Borroloola. Each artist paints their Country of the Gulf Region, the truth of colonial violence and Frontier Wars, and the devastating impact of mining on their lands.
Jack Green was born in the early 1950s under a coolibah tree on Soudan Station on the Barkly Tablelands, Wakaya Country. He is a Mambaliya man, Garrwa on his father�s side and Marra on his mother�s side.
Jack ?rst started painting as a powerful way to share his experiences of the operations and impacts of mining companies and government policy on the region�s peoples and their Country. He is an accomplished artist exhibited nationally and was a finalist in the 2020 Telstra NATSIAA.
Stewart Hoosan was born in 1951 at Doomadgee Mission in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland. He is a Garrwa man on his mother�s side and is Junggayi (ceremonial �manager�) for his Country. After decades of working as a drover, Stewart settled in Borroloola in 1972 after marrying Nancy McDinny. Together they own the Wandangula (Police Lagoon) outstation.
Stewart began painting in the early 2000s and his practice focuses on the histories of droving and Aboriginal resistance fighters of the Gulf. He paints the big Country belonging to the Garrwa people. His respect for his Country is the foundation for his art. His work is included in some of the most important Australian and international collections and has been exhibited in London and extensively throughout Australia. He has been a Telstra NATSIAA finalist five times.
Nancy McDinny is a Garrwa artist who was born on Fetrel Island between Manangoora Station and Vanderlin Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory. With her husband, Stewart Hoosan, and family, Nancy owns an outstation called Wandangula (Police Lagoon).
Nancy began painting in the late 1990s and uses the medium to address historical and contemporary silences in the Gulf region, including her family�s brutal experiences of European settlement, and the impacts of mining on the natural environment. Her work is also informed by stories told to her father, Dinny McDinny, and her grandfather Jim Ross.
