Artist Showcase | Maljah Cathy Snow

Clan groups: Gkuthaarn
Language groups: Gkuthaarn

Maljah Cathy Snow was born in 1954 in Normanton, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, where she continues to live and work.

Snow spent her childhood on Magowra Station, on her mother’s Country. Her bush name, Maljah, means lightning and comes from her grandmother’s dreaming. Later in life she leaned that her grandfather’s name meant floodwaters. This knowledge inspired her to create artworks about water and water themes, including salt and freshwater mussels, water birds and plants, and the complex patterning of tidal water marks.

For Snow, the ability to share her stories and culture through her art, particularly with her children and grandchildren, is deeply important and rewarding. "My art allows me to express my culture, my love of and connection with the land. The use of my trademark colours, red and black, express my appreciation for the land, the sea, and my youth."

Snow is a self-taught artist. In 2021 she presented her first solo exhibition, Maljah Cathy Snow: Barlawink, My Mothers Country, at the Cairns Art Gallery. In 2023 she received funding from the Double R Arts Foundation to extend her painting practice into designs for textiles. The completed designs will be digitally printed on linen and exhibited at the Gallery in 2025.

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Solo Exhibition | Highlighted Works

Miljah Cathy Snow:
Barlawink, My Mothers Country
4 Sep – 9 Oct 2021

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Maljah Cathy Snow, Seed Lilies 2021, acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artist Maljah Cathy Snow, Waterlilies 2021, acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artist Maljah Cathy Snow, Bush Turkey and Wild Cucumber Vine 2021, acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artist Maljah Cathy Snow, Water lilies, Potato Lilies and Seed Lilies 2021, acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artist Maljah Cathy Snow, Water Goanna and long necked turtle 2021, acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artist Maljah Cathy Snow, Wild Onions 2021, acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artist Maljah Cathy Snow, Waterlilies, Freshwater Mussels and Seedlillies 2021, acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artist Maljah Cathy Snow, Freshwater Barramundi 2021, acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artist

Group Exhibition | Highlighted Works

Destination North
27 Jun – 22 Aug 2020

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Miljah Cathy Snow, Bush Turkey and Wild Bananas, 2020, acrylic on paper, Collection of the artist Miljah Cathy Snow, Water Snowflake, 2020, acrylic on paper, Collection of the artist