Artist Otis Hope Carey’s Works Are an Ode to His Connection With the Ocean

The one-time pro-surfer channels healing through his painted love letters to the ocean.

Whether it’s water-based acrylic on primed cotton canvas, the back of a surfboard or a mural at the Byron Bay home of actor Chris Hemsworth, for Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung man Otis Hope Carey, the driving force is the same. “I’ve suffered from severe depression most of my life,” he says. “In 2014, my therapist suggested I try art as a form of expression. I picked up a paintbrush and it flowed out of me so naturally that I haven’t stopped painting since.”

While his bold line work and technical composition have earned him significant acclaim in art circles, Carey – who also does bark painting and sculptural painted logs – sees the recognition as the least important aspect of his work. “I don’t really pay attention to the art world. We’re all artists in our own way. The way we dress, the way we make our food. It’s all artistry. Everybody is a vessel for their ancestors to tell stories through them.”

And there’s one story in particular that Carey’s paintbrush keeps telling. The former pro surfer, who has twice won the Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles, has been called back home to the sea since he was a child. “The Gumbaynggirr word for ocean is gaagal, our shared totem. It’s informed who I am as a person – how I see the world and connect with things. It nurtures us, holds us, sings to us, feeds us, shares our stories. I am the water. I am the ocean.”

Much like the lines of his painting Gaagal, which graces this month’s cover, Carey’s engagement with his muse doesn’t begin or end; it loops infinitely through him and the stories of his old people. “When I’m surfing, I’m dancing with the ocean. When I’m painting, the expression is much deeper – its songs and spirituality move through me.”

The artist is creating new works, exploring the story of the Seven Sisters stars, as well as a design label, Ngaarlu (Water), with his wife, Sophie Willing, which will focus on recycled woven throw rugs. “I don’t want it to be just about me,” he says of the new venture. “I come from a poor black family. I’m always checking my ego and reminding myself that this art isn’t about me. It’s about lifting up my culture and my community.”

Exhibited at: China Heights Gallery, Sydney

Achievements: Finalist in the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship (2018); Wynne Prize shortlist for Ngalunggirr Miinggi (Healing Spirit) (2020)

Breakthrough moment: In 2016, for his first solo show, Nguraalami, Carey created 50 paintings and more than half of them sold before opening night.

SEE ALSO: First Nations Artist Naomi Hobson’s Works Are a Reclamation of Country and Community