Lingka

Simon Hogan, a senior Spinifex law man is near impossible to describe, he is the champion of everything Spinifex, a man who has tirelessly advocated for his people. Energetic mark making traces his storied life, starting and returning to the significant site of Lingka, situated deep within Spinifex Country.

From Brian Hallett’s essay:

"Mr Hogan is a time traveler. Not only does he come from another time in history, but he has travelled from another dimension: a place where the simplicity of one’s life speaks volumes. Where this realm may be not as important here: just for us to know that we ‘mere mortals’ can only aspire to such a domain of serenity and contentment few possess. We catch glimpses of this world when Simon engages us.

Simon Hogan - as he readily introduces himself, to anyone in his immediate vicinity, inhabits that place where all great philosophers and spiritual teachers aspire to reach - his very own space. This is most evident in his contact with total strangers- of any tenet or persuasion, of any stature or rank- for he sees no distinction. All are equal. He occupies an enchanted space of contentment that transcends verbal boundaries and cross-cultural inhibitors to make people feel genuinely uplifted when in his presence. I do. For conversing with Simon is never about personal needs, attributes, or desires, but about country: his ‘big country’, the Tjukurpa (creation), and the knowledge his life exists from, and of, the manta (earth). When meeting new people, he would explain at length, the vastness of ‘Spinifex Country’ and the complexities of the mapped terrain that anchors him in this world. Firstly, he will make the interaction a comedy. He plays comedic whilst we laugh, but know not why, we smile, we feel a deep goodness brewing inside of us. Then he shows us the same as tragedy, so you are left with no doubt, that you too should become a champion of all things Spinifex. This is his ‘life force’ of substance persuasion.

Now after many years, the man that does not age, has gotten older. Some, who have known him their whole life, say he has always been an old man. But before his limited mobility, Simon Hogan was a great walker. He walked as a constant. Walking was a fact for him, something that he did on a daily basis, like eating or sleeping, a continual part of him, a mode of transport that happened to be attached to his body. There was never discomfort nor excuses nor any hesitation. He has never driven a motorcar. His preference was always to walk, and he has ‘Spinifex Celebrity status’ for his historic walking prowess. When Simon was just a young man, he walked from his country, in the Great Victoria Desert, as Government Patrol officers, who were under instruction to "clear the area of any Natives" for the British Atomic Testing, at Maralinga, moved throughout the land. Simon famously walked the ‘long way around’ to find other Spinifex People who were taken to Cundeelee Mission, situated 180km east of the mining township of Kalgoorlie, and some 1000km from Simon’s own country. Once at the Mission, Simon then walked the return journey to his country. This, it is said, he did twice in succession and with ease. It seems he has always had the ability to move great distances- literally and metaphorically.

Even in old age Simon Hogan still carries magnetic resonance and a reserved sensibility radiating from deep within his being that makes others feel safe in the world: as if shielded by an unseen divinity spreading a warm, protective aura. Or maybe we are already in the presence of a divine being: one blessed with an unwavering sense of his present self that is a culmination, at any given point, of the entirety of his lived existence - his Spinifex lives. Like a life practiced yogi or self realised guru- Simon Hogan has always lived truly ‘in the moment’.

Unlike others though, he is a teacher by osmosis - and for that we need only be in his presence: luckily for us, he places all of himself, past and present, in every mark of every painting."

‍Lingka: Simon Hogan celebrates the radiance and culmination of Mr. Hogan’s lived existence – “his present self and all his Spinifex lives”.

Exhibition Catalogue (PDF)