Hear ATW collaborator, Kaantju/Umpila artist Naomi Hobson speak about her creative practice from her studio in Coen, Far North Queensland.

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In December 2019, the ATW commenced weaving on 'The Royal Harvest' tapestry, designed by Hobson, for the Australian Embassy to Indonesia, Jakarta. 'The Royal Harvest' is the tenth tapestry woven for the Embassy Tapestry Collection. This innovative cultural program places ATW tapestries, designed by Australian Indigenous artists, on loan to overseas diplomatic posts.

Hobson is well known for her vibrant abstract compositions, that are inspired by her culture and the vast traditional lands of her ancestors, that surround her hometown of Coen, in Far North Queensland. More recently, Hobson's paintings have drawn on the richness of cultural diversity she experienced while exploring village life, rural farmlands and the urban organised chaos throughout South East Asia.

Through a colourful multitude of layered forms and patterns, 'The Royal Harvest' tapestry evokes an environment brimming with life. Hobson says her tapestry design ‘represents the bounty left behind from our ancient trades between my people in Cape York and Indonesians. The shapes suggest trading movement through country and the colours are capturing the energy, joy, abundance and excitement of trading between the two cultures’.