The struggle of spokes people 2022

Heather Marie (Wunjarra) Koowootha was compelled to create an artwork that would teach her grandchildren and the younger generations about leaders who have shaped her Indigenous family, whose connections stretch from Innisfail to the Torres Strait. The result is The struggle of spokes people 2022, a series of portraits including educators and social justice advocates Evelyn Ruth Scott AO (1935–2017) and Gladys Tybingoompa (1946–2006); former Senator Neville Bonner AO (1922–99), the first Aboriginal Australian to become a Member of Federal Parliament; along with Indigenous land rights campaigner John Pampeya Koowarta (1940–91) – who happens to be the artist’s uncle.

These portraits of First Nations leaders are presented alongside an image of former Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson (1911–2005), whose uncompromising conservatism has also impacted the lives of Indigenous peoples, though, as the artist suggests, ‘not for the better’. For Koowootha, it was important to include the full spectrum of political figures alongside a self-portrait to show how affairs of the state and social justice campaigns directly impact individuals.