About The Artists
LORRAINE AUSTIN
Lorraine Austin is a Palawa (Tasmanian) women who was born in Euroa and grew up in Shepparton, Victoria. In 1999, at the age of 44, she began her art studies at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne; she completed her Bachelor, Honours and Masters of Fine Arts. Whilst at university, Austin was successful in gaining an exchange study year at Pratt University in Brooklyn, New York in the United States of America. Since graduating she has exhibited and travelled to India, Spain and Morocco. In the Wilin Centre’s (Aboriginal unit at the Victorian College of the Arts) 2007 publication, Illuminate, she states that she is inspired by Rebecca Horn, Kiki Smith, Bruce Nauman and Phillip Guston.
ALINTA KOEHRER
Alinta Koehrer is a Woi-Wurrung Wurundjeri and Yorta-Yorta Traditional Owner through her mother and grandmother. Alinta is a Melbourne based Studio Arts graduate and an up-and-coming fine artist and emerging First Nations fashion designer. She has worked with mixed media and large-scale canvas design and is developing her own unique style in Aboriginal art. Alinta has a real talent for creating thought provoking pieces of cultural story telling through visionary and innovative couture design.
SIMONE THOMSON
I am a Melbourne based Aboriginal artist and descendant of Victoria’s Wurundjeri and Yorta-Yorta tribes through my mother, and I am Irish and Scottish through my father.
I draw inspiration for my art from the abundant textures and colours of this beautiful land along with the ancestral bonds I have to the Birrarung (Yarra River) and Dhungala (the Murray River). My people are river people, so I find that waterways often interweave into my art along with dreaming and creation stories of the sky.
I pay my respects to my mother, my maternal grandmother Kooka Geraldine, and her mother, my great-grandmother – Kooka Yarmuk. It is through them in particular that I carry the language, stories and ancestral oral history and knowledge passed down to me from my mother.
I have been blessed with a strong cultural education that includes traditional song and dance as a young child. These cultural practices continued into my teenage years where I became the first graduating student of Victoria’s first Aboriginal school, Worawa Aboriginal College. It’s here that I picked up my first paint brush at fifteen and created my first dreaming story. Little did I know that I would continue this sacred art of storytelling well into my adult years and that I would still receive the same spiritual healing and strength I did back then from connecting to my culture. I invite you to share with me my dreaming stories and journey.
Galnya, Respect.
JETCHA (AUNTY) ZETA THOMSON
Jetcha (Aunty) Zeta is one of 13 children of Selwyn ad Geraldine Briggs. Her heritage through her mother is Yorta Yorta, and through her father, Wurundjeri. Zeta’s passion is to promote her culture and traditions through her art, and to that end she also teaches cultural studies at Worawa College. She was also the first indigenous artist to exhibit at Melbourne Museum - a great honour for her.
Jetcha (Aunty) Zeta is a well-regarded Wurrundjeri and Yorta-Yorta Elder and knowledge holder who has strong links to her ancestral homelands. Jetcha (Aunty) Zeta was honoured with a solo exhibition of her works to commemorate the opening of Birrarung Gallery, Bunjilaka (Melbourne Museum) in November 2000. Other exhibitions include Burrinja Gallery, Solo Exhibition 1999 and Deadly Arts, Arts Victoria, 2001. Federation Estate Ringwood, Parliament House, Sydney, North Melbourne Town Hall, Prahran Town Hall, Japan and New Zealand.
Jetcha (Aunty) Zeta was recently honoured by the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll, 2019.
LORRAINE AUSTIN
Lorraine Austin is a Palawa (Tasmanian) women who was born in Euroa and grew up in Shepparton, Victoria. In 1999, at the age of 44, she began her art studies at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne; she completed her Bachelor, Honours and Masters of Fine Arts. Whilst at university, Austin was successful in gaining an exchange study year at Pratt University in Brooklyn, New York in the United States of America. Since graduating she has exhibited and travelled to India, Spain and Morocco. In the Wilin Centre’s (Aboriginal unit at the Victorian College of the Arts) 2007 publication, Illuminate, she states that she is inspired by Rebecca Horn, Kiki Smith, Bruce Nauman and Phillip Guston.
ALINTA KOEHRER
Alinta Koehrer is a Woi-Wurrung Wurundjeri and Yorta-Yorta Traditional Owner through her mother and grandmother. Alinta is a Melbourne based Studio Arts graduate and an up-and-coming fine artist and emerging First Nations fashion designer. She has worked with mixed media and large-scale canvas design and is developing her own unique style in Aboriginal art. Alinta has a real talent for creating thought provoking pieces of cultural story telling through visionary and innovative couture design.
SIMONE THOMSON
I am a Melbourne based Aboriginal artist and descendant of Victoria’s Wurundjeri and Yorta-Yorta tribes through my mother, and I am Irish and Scottish through my father.
I draw inspiration for my art from the abundant textures and colours of this beautiful land along with the ancestral bonds I have to the Birrarung (Yarra River) and Dhungala (the Murray River). My people are river people, so I find that waterways often interweave into my art along with dreaming and creation stories of the sky.
I pay my respects to my mother, my maternal grandmother Kooka Geraldine, and her mother, my great-grandmother – Kooka Yarmuk. It is through them in particular that I carry the language, stories and ancestral oral history and knowledge passed down to me from my mother.
I have been blessed with a strong cultural education that includes traditional song and dance as a young child. These cultural practices continued into my teenage years where I became the first graduating student of Victoria’s first Aboriginal school, Worawa Aboriginal College. It’s here that I picked up my first paint brush at fifteen and created my first dreaming story. Little did I know that I would continue this sacred art of storytelling well into my adult years and that I would still receive the same spiritual healing and strength I did back then from connecting to my culture. I invite you to share with me my dreaming stories and journey.
Galnya, Respect.
JETCHA (AUNTY) ZETA THOMSON
Jetcha (Aunty) Zeta is one of 13 children of Selwyn ad Geraldine Briggs. Her heritage through her mother is Yorta Yorta, and through her father, Wurundjeri. Zeta’s passion is to promote her culture and traditions through her art, and to that end she also teaches cultural studies at Worawa College. She was also the first indigenous artist to exhibit at Melbourne Museum - a great honour for her.
Jetcha (Aunty) Zeta is a well-regarded Wurrundjeri and Yorta-Yorta Elder and knowledge holder who has strong links to her ancestral homelands. Jetcha (Aunty) Zeta was honoured with a solo exhibition of her works to commemorate the opening of Birrarung Gallery, Bunjilaka (Melbourne Museum) in November 2000. Other exhibitions include Burrinja Gallery, Solo Exhibition 1999 and Deadly Arts, Arts Victoria, 2001. Federation Estate Ringwood, Parliament House, Sydney, North Melbourne Town Hall, Prahran Town Hall, Japan and New Zealand.
Jetcha (Aunty) Zeta was recently honoured by the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll, 2019.