ARTIST Pauline Syron-Coxon’s exhibition ‘Remembering the Cooks: an Aboriginal family of the Barrington’ opens at the Gloucester Gallery next Saturday.
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Raised down the road in Bulahdelah, Pauline has called the Snowy Mountains town of Berridale home for the past three years.
Pauline is a descendant of the Aboriginal people of the Worimi and Biripi.
A self-taught artist, she started painting in 1999 inspired by her nanna, who passed away that same year.
Pauline is a direct descendant of Worimi man Jack Cook (Mulakut) and his partner Jessie Brummie.
“Mulakut was the last full-blood initiated Aboriginal man on the Bucketts,” Pauline said.
“He lived at Barrington Reserve with his family.”
The gallery exhibition, which will feature Pauline’s work along with works by Pauline’s cousin Robert Leslie Syron, will coincide with a reunion of the Cook family in Gloucester that same afternoon.
“We meet every few years. The last time we got together was in 2011,” Pauline said.
For Pauline, who owns a gallery in Berridale, this will be the first time she has exhibited her work in Gloucester.
She said each of the works for the exhibition told a story connected to the Cook family.
“The exhibition is based on quite a lot of research into the Cook family tree,” she said.
“All the artworks are specific to the Cook family and the area and each is based on a news article, a photo or some other historical document which will be exhibited alongside the artwork.”
The unique feature of Pauline’s dot art is that she is totally self-taught.
She will simply pick up a stick and commence painting, with no sketching, or layout preparation.
Her artwork has become popular, both in Australia and overseas, and many of her pieces have a family connection.
Pauline’s cousin Robert, a student studying Aboriginal Studies at Newcastle University, will exhibit works including intricately decorated hand-carved boomerangs and spears.
The exhibition’s official opening at the Gloucester Gallery will take place at 10.30am on Saturday, February 28.
Members of the public are welcome to attend.
The opening will include a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony as well as talks by both artists.
The exhibition closes on March 22. A Cook family reunion will be held at the Gloucester Bowling Club on February 28 from 12.30pm.
The reunion includes lunch and guest speakers including Aunty Colleen Perry from Newcastle University.
