Simon Hogan

‘Mr Hogan’ holds a special place amongst the Spinifex people of remote
Western Australia, on account of his vast knowledge of the land and the Tjukurpa – the traditional lore, creation stories and ceremonies associated with it. He is known as the ‘walking encyclopaedia.’

Born in the early 1930s at Linka, in the Great Victoria Desert, Western
Australia, Hogan lived a traditional nomadic life, before he and his family were moved off their lands, due to nuclear testing in the area. As a teenager Hogan, and his older brother, made an epic trek from the Spinifex lands to the Mount Margaret mission. While his brother remained at Mount Margaret, Hogan returned to the Great Victoria Desert, to complete his initiation.

Hogan, with many other members of the Spinifex people, relocated to
Cundeelee Mission in the 1950s, due to the contamination caused by nuclear testing on their homelands. But he returned to his country in the 1980s, and, began working with the Spinifex Arts Project in 1997. Despite speaking no English, he was one of the leading figures who lobbied the Western Australian government for Native Title over the traditional Spinifex lands. Paintings of these lands, and their creation stories, were a vital part of this campaign. (Native Title was granted, in an historic ruling, in 2000.)

Hogan’s work, often depicting his native Lingka, draws on his deep connection with the land and its stories. He has gained an international reputation. In 2009 Hogan travelled to Linz, Austria, to be an Artist in Residence, during the Linz Cultural Capital of Europe Exposition. His work is in the collections of the British Museum, London, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; Museum Funf Kontinente, Munich; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.