Fiona Foley is an Aboriginal artist from Australia who uses her art to raise awareness about Aboriginal histories and cultures. As an artist from the Badtjala people, who are the original inhabitants of Fraser Island, Foley feels a responsibility to advocate for her land and people. Her work challenges the ignorance of non-Indigenous Australians by bringing attention to histories that have been concealed or whitewashed. Foley believes her work is driven by her custodial duties to Fraser Island and her existence as an Indigenous person in Australia.

1. Fiona Foley
Aboriginal Artist

2. Topic : Cultural Warriors
• Week 1 – Fiona Foley
Biography
• Week 2 – Fiona Foley Art
Practice
• Week 3 – Fiona Foley Frames
& Conceptual Framework
• What is a Cultural Warrior?

3. Cultural Warrior :
Definition
• Warriors – what / whom are these cultural
warriors fighting against?
• The mainstream, the establishment, the
uneducated, the uninformed.
• These artist warriors are going on the attack
as much as defending their culture.
• They are attacking the ignorance of the
general non-indigenous population – raise
their awareness, bring them a knowledge of
the concealed (deliberately or otherwise)
forgotten and whitewashed histories.

4. Bibliography
• Australian Aboriginal, born
Maryborough, Queensland 1964
• Grew up in Hervey Bay and
Sydney
• Certificate of Arts at East Sydney
Technical College in 1983
• Bachelor of Visual Arts at Sydney
College of Arts in 1986
• Diploma of Education at the
University of Sydney in 1987

5. Why Foley is a
Cultural Warrior
• My work today is
driven by my
custodial
responsibilities to my
land, Fraser Island and
my political existence
as an Indigenous
person of Australia.

6. Aboriginal Background
• Fiona Foley is one
of Australia’s best
known Aboriginal
artists and as
artist of
international
repute.
• Her people, the
Badtjala, are the
original
inhabitants of
Fraser Island,
north of
Brisbane.

7. History of Fraser Island
• The island of K’gari or
Thoorgine, as it was
known by its
inhabitants, came to
the attention of
colonial Queenslanders
with the shipwreck
there in 1836 of the
Stirling Castle.
• The Captain’s wife, Eliza Fraser, survived and
subsequently lied in captivity for six months
with the Aboriginal inhabitants.

8. The Batdjala People’s
History
• Many Batdjala people were
enslaved by colonial rule,
physical violence, disease,
and starvation.
• Her traditional society is now
in ruins as many of people
were massacred or forcibly
removed from their ancestral
land.
• In 2004, an Aboriginal man
named Cameron Doomadgee
died in police custody on
Palm Island.

9. Foley Talks : Part One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvweA0fGzE

10. The In-class Essay
• Notes? Yes – however…
• Must be handwritten.
• One side of an A4 sheet only.
• No images.
• Quotes must be in APA format.
• Conditions?
• Exam conditions, which means no talking, no
looking at other’s papers, and no
phones/laptops etc.