Student indigenous art

The 2017 NAIDOC poster competition is on and entries are open to all talented artists over the age of 13 across Australia, including our own Aimee Hogan, with this beautiful entry.

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

This year’s theme for the poster Competition is ‘Our Languages Matter.’ The artwork created in the winning entry will be used as the basis for the official poster for Naidoc week and100,000 of these posters are distributed nationally. The first NAIDOC poster was created in 1972 to promote ‘Aborigines Day’ which had become widely accepted as a day for Australians to come together in support of better rights for Indigenous people. The poster is a creative opportunity for artists to convey messages depicting the cultural and political history of Australia’s Indigenous people and is the primary tool for promoting NAIDOC Week activities. The winning artwork will also collect a $5,000 cash prize.

Year 10 Visual Arts student, Aimee Hogan has entered this year with her work ‘Darkness Speaks.’ Aimee says, her work is about the power of language, both spoken and unspoken.

‘I intend to portray our ability to listen to the land, to the night and the stars and hear the earth communicate its truths,’ Aimee says about her work. ‘The moonlit figures are representations of my spirit ancestors rising up.’ Looking closely, there are two faces in profile at the top edges of the page speaking silently into the sky.

Aimee has worked with acrylic paint, charcoal and pens on fabriano paper and she says that she loves working with these media.

Aimee worked hard on this image and was often in the Art room at lunchtime to achieve such a high quality finished piece. The winner will be announced in May. Good luck Aimee!

Ms Audrey Durbridge - Visual Arts Teacher