Kevin Edmondstone

Meriam / Magaram

Kevin was born in 1967. He is a proud Aboriginal man from the Yidinji clan of Far North Queensland, with strong family connections to Palm Island and Yarrabah, where his birth parents are from. Shortly after birth, he was taken to a children’s home in Brisbane before being adopted at eight months old by a family who encouraged his artistic talent from an early age.

Following his adoptive parents’ separation, he moved to Rockhampton to live with his father, where he attended art school and began his artistic journey. Later, he relocated to Cairns and spent several years travelling to and from Normanton working as a stockman in his late teens and early twenties.

At the age of 23, he reunited with his birth family and discovered they were living nearby in Yarrabah. After working as a labourer for several years, he returned to his passion for art in 2000 by enrolling in an Indigenous Art course at TAFE in Cairns. There, he completed his Certificate III, Diploma, and Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts.

Since 2004, he has continued developing his unique artistic style, drawing inspiration from his life journey, cultural identity, and connection to Country.