Shonae Hobson is a Southern Kaantju, Umpila, and Kuuku Ya’u woman from Coen, Cape York Peninsula. She is a distinguished curator of First Nations art, fashion, and design.

She made significant contributions as the Curator of First Nations Art at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) from 2021 to 2023, where she initiated the NGV's inaugural Indigenous Fashion Commission, a biannual program dedicated to nurturing the creative development of First Nations artists and designers working in the fashion and textile space.  

From 2018-2021, Hobson served as the inaugural First Nations Curator at Bendigo Art Gallery where she curated the ground-breaking exhibition Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion (2020-21), Australia’s first major survey of contemporary Indigenous Australian fashion to be undertaken both nationally and intentionally.

Hobson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Art History from the University of Melbourne. Central to her curatorial practice is a collaborative approach to working with communities and artists to foster and build capacity for social and economic independence.

Image: Shonae Hobson in front of Naminapu Maymuru-White’s Milŋiyawuy (River of Stars) installation, Bark Ladies exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria. Photo credit: Amelia Stanwix and The Design Files.