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This exhibition presents new paintings by artist Martina Ah Sam. The artist is from Eastern Arrente and Kalkadoon Country but is now based in Townsville. The exhibition title ‘Kwatye’ (pronounced ‘quarchar’) refers to water in the artist’s Arrunta language.

Martina Ah Sam is a First Nations artist now based in Townsville. Born in 1982, her father is a Kalkadoon man from the Cloncurry / Mount Isa region of north-west Queensland. Her mother is an Arrernte woman from the Eastern Arrernte tribe, from the Eastern Macdonald Ranges of the Northern Territory. Ah Sam has drawn inspiration from her artist mother Shirley Dawson, and has painted from a young age. She is passionate about passing on important cultural knowledge from her grandmother and mother to her own children. The artist has recently worked with Umbrella as a facilitator for the Young Indigenous Printmakers program, and with other arts and cultural organisations in Townsville, including Wearable Art Creatives.

Image:  Martina Ah Sam, Rock Springs (detail), 2021. Acrylic on canvas, 40.6 x 50.8cm.

See also:
Hear from Martina at her artist floortalk (alongside artist Lynn Scott-Cumming) 11am Sunday 18 April 2021.
Also on display during this exhibition period 16 April – 23 May 2021: Lynn Scott-Cumming – Moon Phase: Chasing Transcendence | Genine Larin – Empathic Gestures | Ann Bartholomeusz – Shift