Lingka
Simon Hogan
7 Sep
2024
2024
28 Sep
2024
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”.
Installation View
Artworks
Artist Profile/s
Simon Hogan
Lives
Simon Hogan was born circa 1930 in mid-western Spinifex between Paltju and Lingka. Simon’s exact age is unknown as dates of birth were estimated by the A.E.M. missionaries when the Spinifex people, on arrival at Cundeelee, were “sorted” into family groups, given English names and approximate dates of birth. During childhood two fathers, one born at Warakunu and the other at Munki raised Simon. Simon’s mother’s country is around Tjulya.
The Spinifex people were a relatively discreet southern Pitjantjatjara tribal group with ties to the north and east that lived a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life until the late 1950’s to early 1960s when most people either walked into Ooldea and Cundeelee or were taken by AEM missionaries to Cundeelee Mission. As a late teenager or nyiingka living in seclusion from Aboriginal society prior to initiation into manhood, Simon and an older brother made an epic journey from the Spinifex lands to a Christian Mission at Mt. Margaret. He travelled there via the frontier mining towns of Laverton and Leonora. The older brother chose to stay at Mt. Margaret and Simon returned to the Great Victoria Desert and initiate into manhood.
Sometime after initiation Simon travelled across the Serpentine Lakes into South Australia to find a wife. He married Inyika and they had two of their seven children in country before going to Cundeelee Mission around 1960. A second wife, Ngantiri, also traveled in with Simon’s family group.
From 1995 Simon Hogan was a prominent member of a group of senior traditional owners from Spinifex country who lobbied the WA State Government for Native Title. Although Simon spoke no English he was a confident, initiated Pitjantjatjara man who spoke to senior government officials regarding ownership of country and culture. Exclusive Native Title rights were granted to Simon Hogan and the Spinifex people in 2000 of over 55 000 sq kms of the Great Victoria Desert in WA. In 1997 the Spinifex people began painting with acrylic paints on canvas, painting traditional stories using this contemporary medium. Simon again took a leading working with intense concentration and focus to translate Tjukurpa (stories or mythologies) into public artworks. The Spinifex people also produced collaborative works two of which, men’s’ and women’s’, were used in the preamble to the successful Spinifex Native Title claim.
Simon is an effusive individual who introduces himself as “Mr. Hogan” and will happily recount his many exhibition travels throughout Australia and the world. For over a decade he carried a photo of himself and Gough Whitlam in his wallet until the photo eventually disintegrated. The photo was taken during the 1998 Pila Nguru Native Title touring exhibition. The Whitlams were invited to open the exhibition in Canberra. In 2009 Simon travelled to Linz, Austria to be an Artist in Residence during the 2009, Linz Cultural Capital of Europe Exposition. He is a tireless ambassador for Spinifex custom and culture. In 2015 well into his 80’s he travelled to London representing the Spinifex people at an exhibition at the British Museum, where he met with HRH Prince Charles.
Over the years Simon Hogan’s enthusiasm and focus for painting on linen has not diminished. His status as a painter in his own community and on a national and international level has steadily increased over these years making him one of the most sought-after Spinifex artists. His works feature in many public and private collections.
Simon Hogan is a finalist in the prestigious Western Australian Indigenous Art Award