Arone Meeks

Arone Raymond Meeks (1957–2021) was a Kuku Midiji artist from Laura, Cape York. Born in Sydney, he grew up in Yarrabah and El Arish, Mission Beach, just south of his Country. In addition to sustaining his artistic practice, Meeks was a prominent and important leader in Far North Queensland and also made vital contributions to the visual arts interstate as one of the founding members of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative in Sydney. Meeks studied at the City Art Institute, Sydney, and during his career was the recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship that facilitated his study in Paris in 1989. The artist exhibited widely in Europe, North and South America. Known predominantly as both a painter and printmaker, Meeks' work incorporates themes relating to sexuality, identity, land rights, the significance of cultural values, and the importance of belonging to place and Country. He spent years campaigning and working with community health organisations such as Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations and the Queensland AIDS Council. In his later career, Meeks held the role of Director of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair. Meeks' work features in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; among others.