Billy Doolan
| Billy Doolan | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Frederick William Doolan |
| Born | Palm Island Queensland |
| Died | 1952 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Field | Painter |
| Works | Men Fishing Two Sisters - How the Water Came Swamp Frog Dreaming |
Frederick William "Billy" Doolan Jnr (also known as Billy Doo, 1952-) is an Australian Indigenous artist who travels all over Australia but does most of his current artwork in Melbourne, Victoria.
Early Life
Doolan's mother came from Gulf of Carpentaria country and his father, for whom he is named, from Central Queensland, Australia.
Doolan was born in 1952 on Palm Island, Queensland which was the site of a penal settlement from 1918 and is one of the largest Aboriginal communities in Australia with Indigenous people making up 96.6% of the population (ABS, 2006). Bwgcolman is the name given to Aboriginals resettled on Palm Island but the young Doolan lived only a few years on the island before his family was evicted to the Australian mainland.
Billy's father Frederick William, was a ringleader in the 1957 Palm Island Labourer's Strike. This political activity resulted in the family being removed from Palm Island to Townsville on the mainland coast where they settled in Happy Valley.
Career
The Dictionary of Australian Artists Online states that Doolan's works were showcased in 2001 exhibition Gatherings, Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art from Queensland, Australia and that Doolan works in synthetic polymer on canvas.
The Italian Australian Institute held Billy Doolan's first major public exhibition titled Between Sea and Sky: Songs of a Voyage in 2011 with the paintings '...the result of a cultural exchange project initiated by Melbourne-based Sicilian-born arts promoter Mario Sanciolo-Bell'. All Doolan's paintings included in the IAI were painted at the George Wright Shelter in Melbourne. This project led to the biggest non-commercial travelling exhibition of indigenous artwork to leave Australia as of 2011 titled The Rainbow Serpent. Doolan was one of 90 included artists in the $3 million exhibition which also includes works by the late Clifford Possum.
References
See also
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Doolan
