Solomon
Booth
Solomon resides in his motherland of Kubin Village on Moa Island in the beautiful Torres Strait, located between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea. He has lived here since he was 15 years old.
Solomon spent his early years in Darwin in the Northern Territory. As a child he had a fascination with art and drawing. Solomon finished his schooling in Townsville Queensland and went on to complete an ATSI Visual Arts Certificate and Cert IV Training and Assessment.
Solomon joined the Mualgal Minaral Artist Collective in 2000, before it incorporated as Moa Arts – Ngalmun Lagau Minaral Art Centrein 2010.
He was a founding Committee member of Moa Arts and is the current Chairman, a role he takes seriously and with great pride and purpose. “This is a most exciting time in my career” he says.
Solomon states: “Inspired by the beautiful surroundings of my island home my works draw upon Torres Strait and Melanesian influences.”
“Our ancestors were master craftsmen creating ceremonial and other utilitarian objects from wood. This is why I find linocut ideal, because it has a sense of displaying one’s articulate style of carving.”
“A lot of my works are influenced by my people’s lifestyle – from the days of my ancestors to the modern world we are living in today. My ancestors did rock art paintings to tell their stories of their times, which is an inspiration for me to do the same, using modern materials.”