Tarnanthi on Tour Morocco: Naomi Hobson

Inspired by her direct environment and ongoing connection to Country, Naomi Hobson’s Adolescent Wonderland is a series of photographs that tell the real-life story of young Aboriginal people in remote Australia.

The title of this series alludes to the classic children’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Themes of youth, playfulness and childhood memories are evident in Hobson’s photographs. The brightly coloured figures and their props lure the viewer into a dream-like reality, much like the way that Alice follows the white rabbit.

Adolescent Wonderland was a popular highlight of Tarnanthi 2020’s Open Hands exhibition before it toured to 11 regional galleries in South Australia in 2021–2023. It now promises to engage new audiences in Morocco.

Naomi Hobson is a Southern Kaantju/Umpila artist who lives in Coen, a small town of 360 people in the centre of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland. A multidisciplinary artist, she regularly works across the mediums of painting, ceramics and photography.