Jeffrey Samuels, Boomalli workshop

Jeffrey Samuels (b. 1956), a Ngiyampaa/Ngemba painter, illustrator, designer, mixed-media artist and printmaker, is one of the Stolen Generations and seeks to affirm his Aboriginal identity and cultural heritage through his work. One of the ten founding members of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, Samuels began his art education in 1974 with an Aboriginal Study Grant, which enabled him to complete a Diploma in Fine Art at the Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education. Gaining a fellowship from the Australia Council's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board in 1983, he learned about traditional painting and culture from artist Lindsay Roughsey on Mornington Island and undertook further study at Sydney's City Art Institute. Since then he has taught art in schools, tertiary institutions and prisons, lectured in contemporary Aboriginal art at the University of Copenhagen, and spent several periods as an arts administrator. He has participated in exhibitions including Koori Art '84 and Blackroots: Indigenous Gay and Lesbian Art (1997). His works have been featured in the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and displayed across main entry points of the International Convention Centre in Sydney, and his waratah design is the NSW state logo. Samuels is represented in national and regional galleries including the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of NSW. In 2020 Samuels was involved in concept development and hand-drew map graphics for Ambassadors, a display of Aboriginal cultural heritage at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Juno Gemes 2010
© Juno Gemes/Copyright Agency, 2021