Image courtesy of Karen Brown Fine Art.
“When I was younger I was always out in the bush...there was no need to go into town. My favourite thing every day was hunting for turtle...we don’t fish for it, we dig. I would walk down to the lagoon to get turtle in a wheelbarrow. I used to hunt a lot with all those old ladies...they all gone now...I used to take them out on the tractor.”
Born in Darwin in 1980 to Nancy McDinny and Stewart Hoosan, Selma Marrbarmarnyar Hoosan grew up on Wandangula outstation until the age of 16. At first unenthused by the prospect of becoming an artist, Hoosan began her career as an assistant teacher at Wandangula, after finishing school. She subsequently became both a Board Member at Mabunji and worked at the Malandirri Store. Having been raised watching her grandfather (Danny Mc Dinny) and parents paint, however, Hoosan soon followed suit and speaking of her own work, recalls: “Now I like painting... I can sit and relax and think about the country and the stories and the memories. I feel good painting, my stories are filling my head now. I have to paint them.”