Lincoln Austin’s artworks reveal systems of making and codes of construction. Artworks are open invitations to experience relational sensorial fields of abstract colour and form and perceptively co-construct them – playfully following the logic of design, meeting material limits, and imagining infinite recurrent possibilities. From intricate miniature assemblages to expansive installations to integrated architectural expressions, Austin’s works play across scales and materials, energising space, light, and time.

In a creative contract with the viewer, Austin offers building blocks for perceptual experience, providing a common platform to meet, share and exchange, as well as allowing for myriad points of departure, where we can feel individual difference and singular perspective. There is a lot of joy and sensorial pleasure in these skillfully crafted immersive and speculative architectures.

Artworks escape their own frames while working to frame, contain and then release the viewing experience. Performance and poetry are intrinsic dimensions at play. In this immediacy, the works can softly connect to inner emotional states, enfolding the viewer, echoing the structural complexities of our own making, growing, adapting and senescing throughout our lives’ journeys. Experiences of struggle and resolution, vulnerability and strength, openness and protection, become apparent. Though working within a systemic logic and a disciplined truth to material, Austin’s works release rather than define the possibilities of form, expressing an intense optimism.

Based in south-east Queensland, Lincoln Austin has exhibited nationally and internationally, receiving numerous grants and prizes, and participating in forums, workshops, residencies, artist talks, cultural exchanges, university teaching, and mentorships. In 2021, a 20-year survey exhibition, Lincoln Austin: The Space Between Us, was curated for Ipswich Art Gallery by Samantha Littley, Curator, Australian Art, QAGOMA. Austin has produced 18 large-scale public projects and has been awarded two prizes for Art and Architecture by the Australian Institute of Architects. Austin’s works are held in many public and private collections, including Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Artist biography written by Beth Jackson (2022).

Clare Jaque Vasquez is an emerging Aboriginal artist from Gomeroi/Kamilaroi nation. Clare grew up in both an urban environment in her younger years and then on her Grandmother’s Country in north west New South Wales in a small country town near the mission and station where her family lived. Clare’s art gently showcases unique memories and moments from being raised with three generations of Gomeroi/ Kamilaroi women under the one roof navigating the aftereffects of change.

Clare’s works capture stories and weaving practices in a raised textural form leveraging natural and contemporary art tools to apply texture. These tools include different natural brushes, fingertips, branches and sticks through to natural self-made art tools. Clare gently works in layers through a unique practice to apply acrylic paint and impasto textural mediums to create three dimensional fibres of paint. These appear to be etched, embedded and scarred onto the canvas.

Fiona’s work, titled Night Body Blooms, is a large scale projection collage comprised of watercolour paintings, photographs, neon line work, and a repeated self-portrait from the artist’s previous work, Night Body. Taking swatches from the natural world, the vivid, futuristic colourscape incorporates, the magenta of the hibiscus, the glow of the moon, and the neon green of the Mycena chlorophos mushroom, only visible at night. Night Body Blooms continues Fiona’s ongoing celebration of nature and her fascination for the expansive frontiers of the universe.

Donna Davis is a multi-disciplinary artist who examines human and non-human relationships with respect to ecological health. Exploring the intersections between art and science, Donna’s work is often embedded within ecological research projects. Donna’s practice explores stories that examine science through a creative lens; examining imagined futures and constructing new ways of ‘seeing’ complex natural systems and our role within them.

Michelle Le Plastrier is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on hand built ceramics exploring identity, socio-political and environmental issues all in her signature candy coloured style.

Michelle teaches introductory ceramics across South-East Queensland. She has completed residencies, produced workshops and exhibited across Australia for businesses, galleries and councils such as Gold Coast Arts and Culture, Level Up Studio + Gallery, Pacific Fair, HOTA, Side Gallery and Honey Bones Gallery.

She recently won the Environmental Art Award at the Queensland Regional Art Awards and was a finalist in the 2022 North QLD Ceramic Awards at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery. Her recent body of work Dopamine Days is on exhibit at Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast until April 2024. Michelle graduated from a Bachelor of Visual Media from the Queensland College of Art. Michelle was an artist-in-residence through HOTA’s inaugural ArtKeeper program in 2021-22.

Georgie explores new creative forms of expression by triggering electronic sound and real-time animation with motion capture gestural devices, experimenting creatively in the physical space, the augmented dimension and the virtual world. The audience can embed themselves into her artwork, their movement and imagery manifesting audiovisual layers in real time and blurring the line between artist and audience.

Her artwork has been presented internationally at venues such as the Barbican in London, Drive in Berlin,ISEA in S. Africa, the Powerhouse in Sydney and a lead commission at the recent Music and Arts Festival, Now or Never in Melbourne and Brisbane Festival. She won an honorary mention at the world’s biggest art and technology festival,’ Ars Electronica’ in Austria and picked up the ‘Best Interactive Experience award” at the prestigious Sheffield documentary festival in the UK in 2020.

Georgie’s work is intimate, she is personalizing and personifying technology, giving it a story, harnessing emotional intelligence and inviting the audience to express and connect. Her interactive audiovisual systems also feature in the public education sector, where she facilitates all ages workshops at major international and national festivals such as Melbourne Knowledge Week, The World Science Festival, Robotronica and the Albany in London.

In contrast, radiant silhouettes of native Rosellas glow softly as they weave through the ever-changing composition. This work is a poetic response to the notion of listening to the environment. This practice is also described as deep listening in First Nations philosophy and is aquiet and respectful engagement with the rhythms of the natural world.

Through Mutualisms, Kiriakos explores the symbiotic dance between local Rosellas and the river ecosystem. By engaging deeply with his craft, he attempts to visually manifest the intricate, unseen relationships that sustain life as an elemental animation.

Fluid, transparent shades of dye within opaque liquid creates a nuanced and moving composition. This video reflects the clinical experiences of post-surgical patients, with objects such as fingers, an ID wristband, empty medication packets, and non-slip socks hidden in an alluring, sumptuous, opaque vision.

Through a game of conceal and reveal Residual quietly critiques the systemic and gendered neglect in the medical industry, underscoring the insufficient research that has long shadowed women’s health. The work subtly weaves together broader dynamics of identity, health, and socio-political structures through a feminist lens.

Rising Crises (2024) is a 2D graphically illustrated animation depicting slow-moving panels of blue, an empty bottle, a TV, a burning match and a band-aid. Together these elements are composed into an evolving scene that alludes to a pervasive sense of unease, one, the artist suggests, is a reflection of living in this, the era of compound crisis.

The blue becomes rising water – the rising strain of everyday pressures related to flooding, climate crisis and cost of living. The work is a playful, pastel-coloured comic style image inviting viewers to find shared experiences and mutual understanding in the face of the challenges of the everyday.

This image is taken from a series that addresses the misconception of the ‘one in 200 years flood scale’, exploring the impact of a 10-meter flood on Maiwar (Brisbane River) and Urarra (Bremmer River) floodplains. As climate change intensifies, the frequency of such extreme events increases, requiring us to prepare for bigger floods, more often.

The original work was made using flood waters, natural ochres, acrylic, copperleaf and charcoal on canvas. Now as a large-scale illuminated image Kylie aims to illustrate the potential damage and urgent need for adaptive strategies around this frightening reality.

Waru Ah Kusikus | Turtles and Jellyfish

In this print I show you in every year in the Torres strait when the monsoon rains come to cleanse the lands and rivers start flow millions of jellyfish are washed out into the ocean creating long brown and lite blue stripes on the ocean surface of millions of jellyfish that drift with the tides through the Torres strait attracting turtles from all over. It’s the best time to watch the turtles feasting on the jellyfish. I’ve witnessed these activities so many times in my life.

Jymahl Savage bases his artworks on his life experience and island lifestyle. One of Badu Island’s most exciting emerging artists, Jymahl has quickly demonstrated that he can turn his hand to any medium with exquisite results. He works in a range of 2 and 3D including lino and monoprints, wood and pearl-shell carving.

A fisherman and hunter, Jymahl shares his unique insight into the rich biodiversity of the Torres Straight in all of his artwork, mapping species, seasons and the intricate web of relationships that exist on land and in the sea. Jymahl’s work has been commissioned by government and aviation and in 2024 Paspaley Pearls purchased a series of works for their new, high-end luxury yacht the Paspaley Pearl.

Iruaupaup | Hammerhead Shark

This animal is one of many that can swim up to the lowest tide in search of its prey and also conquers the deepest depths in our beautiful ocean. IRUAUPAUP meaning, (HAMMERHEAD SHARK) is my major totem from my Mother and Father side the Zagareb Tribe of Mer Island is located at the Eastern Cluster of the Torres Strait. This animal is like a God to me. The movement of this particular animal amazes me. It’s like the Hammerhead shark is multitasking, attacking each prey as it goes.

Artist Profile:

Growing up in an artistic household, George Gabey has art in his blood. As an emerging artist, he was inspired by senior artists and their artistic styles. Today, George Gabey has solidified his own style and reputation within the Torres Strait arts industry.

His work revolves around nature, the land, sea and sky. Primarily working with acrylic on canvas, George’s work is eye catching and detailed. George believes that if we still want to practice our culture in the future, it is important for our environment to be healthy so that our children can continue to be proud of their identity and their inherited cultural practices.

Connection

This digital design reflects my Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background. The setting contrasts land and sea, highlighting our deep-seated relationship with the environmental landscape. The island mat pattern represents our ties to the land and water-like design to represent the sea. I chose animals that resonate with my personal story, including the green sea turtle, which inhabits the waters and the stingray, emu, and crocodile which are totems from both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island background, complemented by the hibiscus, my favorite flower.

Artist Profile:

Laura’s creations are based around the themes of connections to family and country.

Laura grew up with an artistic mother who comes from an artistic family, she took an interest in working with acrylic on canvas and linen like her mother and continues to learn and explore with different mediums including, works on paper, photography and digital/ graphic designs.

Teddy Horton is a photographer and digital media artist living and working on the Sunshine Coast. Teddy works at the cutting edge of digital technologies and works at the intersection of photography and AI creating unique videos and still images using a range of generative AI platforms and photographic mediums.

Teddy’s work Stars Align recently won the Emerging Artist Award category of the Queensland Regional Art Awards. This work plays creatively with the ways AI technologies visualise text prompts based on feelings and emotions and subverts traditional cowboy narratives that are typically based on story resolution through violence and retribution.

Quandamooka

Casey Coolwell-Fisher is a Quandamooka woman of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island, Qld) and is an artist and graphic designer. She created Chaboo – a small business producing unique hand-painted wooden tableware and homewares. Together with her partner Roy Fisher, a Wakka Wakka man (Cherbourg, Qld), they are 100% Indigenous Australian-owned and operated. Their artworks reflect the connection to lands, waters, and skies.

Wulli Wulli

Arabella Walker is from the maternal line of Wulli Wulli the Auburn Hawkwood people and an emerging female contemporary Aboriginal artist; her practice conveys significant topics of First Nations histories with a focus on the challenge of being an Aboriginal woman living in the Colony. Walker deals with this challenge by weaving Indigenous ways of knowing and being into knowledge of culture and protocols, connections, and traditions, through a variety of media. Walker’s work expresses ideas, cultural knowledge and histories, stories, and cultural connections. This is shown through media, such as acrylic paints, video projections, and installations form an interdisciplinary dialogue. Her creative process communicates a cultural intent in ways that words can’t.

Dauared, Komet, Kemer Kemer and Meriam

I was born and grew up on Tamwoy Town, Waiben (Thursday Island). I am a descendant of the Dauareb and Komet Clan and including the Kemer Kemer Meriam Nation and Wakaid Clan from Badhu (Badu) Island. I depict my totemic animals to gaze back at the viewers with curiosity and to have this presence of mythical creatures from our stories. My work makes reference to my connection to my family-line; which gives me the sense of belonging to my clan, my family and my identity through totems that has been passed down from my ancestors.

Gurugulu and Indinji Gimuy

Elverina Johnson is a Gurugulu and Indinji Gimuy artist from Yarrabah in far north Queensland. Her traditional family name is Bunya Badjil, which means ‘Good Woman’. She is a multidiscipliary artist, and practices in the fields of visual arts, music, and performance. Her unique painting style is bright and bold and often depicts the beauty of Yarrabah’s land and sea. Her work expresses a deep and innate understanding of Country and honours the traditions and stories belonging to her culture and ancestral homelands.

Gunggari

Desirai Saunders is a Gunggari digital illustration artist whose work explores the intersection of traditional and modern cultural identities. Drawing inspiration from her connection to country, community, and the strength of First Nations people, she brings stories to life through bold character design and expressive storytelling. Her work captures emotion, identity, and the lived experiences of her culture in a contemporary world. Passionate about supporting other First Nations artists, Desirai uses her art to create meaningful connections, empower others and spark conversation.

Bingkin Ngugi

Quandamooka and Goreng Nations
‘Mirigin – Star Dreaming’ 2021
Mirigin – star.

This painting’s style represents the soul light stars we can see in the night-time sky, birra. The colours of the stars shown in red, yellow, aqua, sometimes more. Dean Tyson / Bingkin Ngugi is a celebrated Goori (Aboriginal) artist and cultural practitioner from Southeast Queensland, honoring the ancestors and his family through many art forms and Goori cultural respect. bingkin is a ‘brisbane black’, belonging to the Meerooni tribe of Gurang Nation and the Ngugi tribe of Quandamooka Nation (also with blood ties to Gungalu, and Gunggari). As an artist, bingkin shares knowledge from his teachers and a Goori way of thinking for all; Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Bernard Lee Singleton is an accomplished craftsman, curator and designer, born and living in Cairns. Singleton grew up in Coen, Cape York. His mother is a Djabuguy woman born in Mona Mona mission near Kuranda and his father is an Umpila (east coast Cape York)/Yirrkandji man from Yarrabah mission. As a boy, Bernard enjoyed watching his grandfather make Wagay (swords), and would sit with his mother’s people and watch them make rainforest-swords, shields, boomerangs, throwing sticks, spears and baskets. These experiences and his deep knowledge of culture continue to inform his arts practice.

Singleton has worked as a cultural consultant and guest curator for UMI Arts, Cairns Art Gallery and most recently the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, assisting the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.

Simone Arnol is a descendant of the Gunggandji Peoples and works across a range of mediums, including painting, photography, fashion and design, dyeing, weaving and ceramics. Through her work she recounts stories about the time of church missionaries in Queensland when they forcibly controlled the lives of many Aboriginal people during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Simone has participated in group and solo exhibitions, including the Cairns Art Gallery’s exhibitions Blak Portraiture in 2019, Ritual in 2021 and Staged Photography in 2023. Simone’s 2023 solo exhibition seeRED was a heart-wrenching visual and aural testimony to the history of Yarrabah and Granny Tottie, connecting the past with the present and to the future. In 2021 Simone won the National Indigenous Fashion Award (NIFA) – Environmental and Sustainable Contribution Category and in the same year won the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair Emerging Artist Award.