Boom Community / visual artist

Have you ever heard of Australian South Sea Islanders? I hadn't until I was lucky enough to meet Janet. Australian South Sea Islanders were brought to Queensland between 1863 to 1904 from more than 80 islands in the South Sea, including the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea. Kidnapped or tricked (known as blackbirded) from their islands of heritage, and brought to Queensland as labourers for the sugar cane industry, history suggests this was part of Australia’s slave trade, and at its peak, the recruiting accounted for half the adult male population of some South Sea islands. Artist,...

Tamara Armstrong is an award winning visual artist based at Tamborine Mountain in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland. Known for her layered mix of vibrant colours, tropical plants and geometric angles, she paints to understand her life and cultural heritage as she lives it, blending her innate love for colour and nature with contemporary perspectives of ‘connection’, to create visually bold and uplifting imagery.     We fell in love with her ‘Women of Colour’ series a couple of years ago. Her stunning portraits of fellow Australian Women of Colour and Colourful Women of Substance platforms some of the...