Brush: Women Painters
27 June – 4 October 2026
Public Curators Building | Corner of Abbott and Shields Streets in Gimuy/Cairns, QLD 4870
For many of the women featured in Brush: Women Painters, painting began as a predominately self-taught practice, cultivated by a series of art centre-led painting workshops, which encouraged artists to translate their stories onto canvas. As a result, artists from these regions have produced a distinct and unique visual language that defies categorisation and differs greatly from other Indigenous art movement across the country.
The exhibition brings together the work of eight trailblazing women, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha, Thunduyingathi Bijarrb May Moodoonuthi, Naomi Hobson, Rosella Namok, Samantha Hobson, Mavis Ngallametta and Janet Koongotema, who each has carved a unique position in the landscape of Australian painting. These artists have, since the mid-1990s to mid-2000s created works that speak to a profound cultural and spiritual knowledge of the landscape, seasonal patterns and sacred story places, while simultaneously presenting realities of contemporary community life.
The artists in this exhibition are defined not by longstanding painterly traditions, but by shared geographical conditions, lived experience, and histories of displacement and adaptation. By presenting these women in dialogue for the first time, the exhibition intends to unpack their distinct yet interconnected stories, while delving into their shared creative output and innovation in colour, technique and style.
Curated by Shonae Hobson
OPENING HOURS:
Mon-Fri // 9.30am – 5pm
Sat // 10am – 5pm
Sun // Closed
For the CIAF weekend (9-12 July), all three Cairns Art Gallery buildings will be open 9am - 5pm.
Image: Janet Koongotema (Wik-Mungkan), Moun.aw – Archer River story place, 2024, synthetic polymer paint on linen. 150.5 x 151.5cm. Cairns Art Gallery Collection. Purchased Cairns Art Gallery, 2026.
