FIONA FOLEY

Fiona Foley creates paintings, installations and photographs that deal with history, identity and personal signification. Her paintings are inspired by the natural environment of her hometown, Hervey Bay in south-east Queensland. She depicts cockatoo feathers, dugong bones, mangrove seed pods and yam leaves. Throughout her career, Foley has engaged issues of indigenous identity on a regional, national and international level, creating a dialogue with artists and communities in Australia, North and South America, Europe and the Pacific basin. In all her work, Foley insists the viewer re-examine historical stereotypes.

In 1987, Fiona Foley was a co-founder of the Boomali Aboriginal Artists Co-operative in Sydney. In the ensuing period, she has exhibited in Chile, Bolivia, Japan, Russia, USA, Germany, South Africa and throughout Australia.