Alcaston Gallery is delighted to present an exhibition of new paintings and installation by Queensland artist Claudia Moodoonuthi. Claudia spent the first seven years of her life on Bentinck and Mornington Islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria where she was raised by her late Great Grandmother May Moodoonuthi. It was here that Claudia formed a deep connection to her Kaiadilt family and culture, learning traditional skills such as hunting, fishing and gathering in the bush.
My Body, My Country will exhibit new paintings, puppets and skateboards. Claudia’s bold and colourful painting style is greatly influenced by the time spent with her Great Grandmother and renowned artists and elders from Bentinck Island. Her artwork intimately depicts the landscape of her youth, including the island’s swamps and salt pans, cliffs and birdlife, as well as sea pods which appear in the wet season and signify creation and regeneration. Claudia’s artworks convey her wicked sense of humour, and reveal at every stroke of her brush her love and connection to Bentinck Island. This exhibition will include three paintings by the late May Moodoonuthi.
In 2014 Claudia Moodoonuthi was a finalist in the Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, and featured in major exhibitions Solid! Queensland Contemporary Indigenous Sculpture at the Cairns Regional Gallery, and Dreamings: L’arte Aborigena Australiana Incontra de Chirico, at the Museo Carlo Bilotti, Italy. Claudia Moodoonuthi is currently studying a Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art at Griffith University, Queensland.
