Rosella Namok's work straddles the ground between modern and traditional. Her work often refers to the traditional stories of her people and the clans of her area, but there is also a modern mediation. She expresses these ideas in unconventional and intuitive ways, forging a new path for communicating her experiences and concerns.

 

Namok's canvases are seductive objects. The laquer-like acrylic paint has an array of colours bled into and mixed together on the canvas. She often scrapes out or stamps on motifs. This process leaves two distinct layers that interact and give depth to her images.

 

Lockhart River has fast become one of the most exciting locales of Aboriginal painting in Australia. Rosella is one of the most prominent of these artists. Young and enthusiastic, she started exhibiting in 1997. Since then she has held numerous solo exhibitions and been included in important group shows. In the short span of Rosella's career, her work has been curated into over 30 national and international exhibitions, biennales and prizes; and acquired by every major public gallery in Australia not to mention major corporate and private collections both here and overseas.