Contemporary Aboriginal artist holds first exhibition

It’s a coincidence that Eboney Jade Hall’s first exhibition falls in Reconciliation Week but, as the fostered child of a fostered child, it carries a significance that echoes across generations.

“I was fostered out as a kid, as a baby, actually, and I was raised by the same lady that raised my mum, and when I was 18, my foster dad died, and that sort of was the beginning of my hectic life,” says Eboney, speaking to the Flame on the eve of National Sorry Day. 

“I had a really good upbringing in Wollongong, but there were a lot of challenges, and that's why I had to go back to my Country and my people.”

Her dad is a Barkindji man, her mum a Nyampa woman, from lands around Broken Hill and Wilcannia.

Around age 19, Eboney caught a train to Albury to spend a year with her father, who she remembers being in and out of jail while she was growing up. “I think he took a lot of accountability – my parents had four kids, and they didn't raise any of us – and he really tried to reconnect with me.”

Over the years that followed, Eboney moved to Broken Hill in search of community and connection. She battled alcoholism, domestic violence and a sense of displacement after trying to build a relationship with her biological mother, who was 17 years old when Eboney was born. 

“I've had a lot of issues with my identity,” Eboney says. 

Arriving in the outback mining city in 2010, she struggled to connect (“they thought I was too whitewashed”) and felt out of place. “I stuck it out in Broken Hill. I was there for about 12 years, and it was really hard.” 

But Eboney wanted her three daughters to know their roots.

“Me and my kids, my sister and her kids, we used to go out to Mutawintji a bit, and the national park there. Our friend was the park ranger, and he used to teach us how to cook, and he'd take the kids hunting, and they'd go out foraging, and would go up and look at sacred sites and stuff … my kids are a lot more knowledgeable than I ever was, which is what I wanted.”

Covid lockdown proved accidentally inspirational, as Eboney bought art supplies for her daughters, who weren’t interested. 

“So I thought I'll give it a go. It just brought a really calm sort of feeling to me. It was the first time in years that I just felt like I could concentrate on something, and I could finish something.

Although she has several artists in her family, including her father and mother (“she's a really good painter”), Eboney proceeded to teach herself to paint, developing her own style of contemporary Aboriginal art. 

“I paint with symbols, and there's a lot of symbolism,” she says. “I feel like I paint feelings more than anything else – whatever I'm feeling that day, whether it's good or bad, that's what I paint.

“It's all about family, reconnection, resilience.”

Return to Dharawal Country

While both of her foster parents had passed away, Eboney’s childhood home eventually drew her back to Wollongong. “Painting put all those steps back into place for me. I had something else, rather than just drinking and partying.”

She returned in 2022, finding a home in Tarrawanna, which was when her art took off. “My artworks just started getting really popular, I was selling one every couple of weeks," she says.

“In 2024 I stopped drinking, so this July will be two years of no alcohol, and it's definitely because of my painting. 

“It's healing me.”

Yet Eboney remains caught between two places, cultures and lives, a feeling evident in her art.

“There's a lot of blue, it's very beachy, that kind of thing, and then there's a lot of red and ochres, because I've always been really pulled between Wollongong and Broken Hill. I feel like I've always got to be here or there. 

“We were displaced … we were taken from our ancestral country and, you know, we had to go back. My mum had to go back and learn what she knows, and so did I, and my siblings.”

Eboney, now in her mid 30s, will mark National Sorry Day today by making more art. “I’m a real homebody, so I will paint something. I'm all about reconciliation. I'm all about bringing unity. 

“When I was younger, I really thought that I was going to be a voice to bring people together, because I've been on both sides of the fence, but the older I get, I keep my opinions just with my artwork. I don't go out and try and push anything on anyone. 

“I just feel like our culture should be celebrated and raised up.”

An 'intuitive' talent

Eboney’s exhibition at Clifton School of Arts this weekend has been months in the making and came about thanks to the encouragement of art patron Ricky Onsman, a web designer who is helping Eboney reach the wider audience he thinks she deserves.

Ricky recognised the work of an “intuitive artist” when he came across her paintings on a Community 2518 group in 2023. He now owns eight Eboney Jade Hall paintings.

“Eboney’s control of design and colour, her choices of content like local flora and fauna, her style that’s reminiscent of dot painting but often goes further, all these things resonate strongly with me,” Ricky says.

“The more we talked, the more I also realised that this was an emotional journey for a young Indigenous woman who hasn’t had an easy life, and who was telling the story of her past and connection with Country in her art."

Helping to take Eboney’s hobby to the next level could open a new career path, Ricky hopes. “To be honest, there was a certain amount of guilt involved for me as I was buying gorgeous works of art for a few hundred dollars when I was sure Eboney could charge more.

“It was only right that I do something more than just buy her work.” 

Eboney says she does dream of being a full-time artist, but in the meantime she’s keeping busy raising her daughters and studying at TAFE.

“I'm doing social work, because I would really like to work with Aboriginal kids in care one day.”

The Eboney Jade Hall exhibition will be at Clifton School of Arts from Thursday 28th to Sunday, 31 May, with a launch from 6-8pm on Friday. Visit Eboney's website or Facebook group for more information.