Jeffrey Samuels, Boomalli workshop, 2003

Jeffrey Samuels (b. 1956), painter, printmaker and installation artist, was one of the ten founding members of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, a Leichhardt- based 100 % Aboriginal arts organisation promoting Aboriginal culture and independence through the visual arts. After secondary schooling in Grafton, in the mid 1970s Samuels obtained an Aboriginal Study Grant which enabled him to complete a Diploma in Fine art in 1978. Gaining a fellowship from ATSIAB in 1983, he learned about traditional painting and culture from Lyndsey Roughsey from 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. Exhibitions in which he has participated include Koori Art '84, Artists for Aboriginal Land Rights (1989) and Blackroots: Indigenous Gay and Lesbian Artists (1999). His work featured in the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and is displayed in the 'Painting the Land' gallery of the National Museum. Samuels is represented in national and regional galleries including the NGA and the AGNSW.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Juno Gemes 2010
© Juno Gemes