Fiona Foley (b. 1964), Batjala artist, activist, curator and writer, grew up on Fraser Island and in nearby Hervey Bay before moving south to study art at the East Sydney Technical College. Since first experimenting with Aboriginal motifs as a student, she has produced a body of pastels, photographs, prints and installations that explore Batjala culture and history. She has completed several major commissions in Darwin and Brisbane, and collaborated on installations in Melbourne and Sydney. She was a founding member of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, has served on a number of boards and co-curated the two Tyerabarrbowaryaou exhibitions at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art in 1992 and 1994. Foley's work is held in most major Australian galleries.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Juno Gemes/Copyright Agency, 2024
Juno Gemes (22 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
1 October 2014
This month I turn fifty, soI am just now looking rather more closely than usual at Fiona Foley, Steven Heathcote, Brenda Croft, Russell Crowe, Jeff Fenech, Akira Isogawa, Lee Kernaghan, My Le Thi, Shona Wilson and Mark Taylor AO, mindful that they too were 1964 arrivals.
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