Lola Greeno

Lola Greeno (born Lola Sainty, 27 May 1946 on Cape Barren Island) is an artist, curator and arts worker of Aboriginal descent.[1] She studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania in Launceston, finishing her degree in 1997.[2]

Greeno specialises in traditional Tasmanian Aboriginal shell necklace threading, a skill passed down from her mother and maternal grandmother.[3] Greeno started making these necklaces when she was in her 50s: her work has been essential in the continuation of these skills.[4] In a 2004 interview Greeno said:

I learned to make solely from working with my mother … It was my mother who was very keen for us to work together and this has been the important cultural lesson I learnt from her – teaching respect for one another.[3]

In addition to her art practice, Greeno trained as a Curator of Aboriginal Art at the University of Tasmania and completed an internship as a Regional Indigenous Curator at the National Gallery of Australia.[1] From 2003 to 2013 Greeno worked as a Program Officer for Arts Tasmania, facilitating cross-cultural exchanges between Tasmanian, Australian and international indigenous people.[1]

In 2014, Greeno was the first Indigenous person to be recognised by the Australian Design Centre's Living Treasure Master of Australian Art Award.[5] In 2015 she was entered on the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women for service to Aboriginal Affairs and the Arts.[1] A touring exhibition of her work, Lola Greeno: Living Treasure has been showing in galleries across Australia from 2014 to the present.[6]

Lola Greeno’s exhibition Cultural Jewels, exhibiting fifty of her works, was part of the 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.[7] During the Biennial, on 27 February in Bradley Forum, Level 5, Hawke Building, UniSA, a panel discussion on Animism and Object Behaviour, facilitated by West Australian curator and writer Gemma Weston, focused on the work of Lola Greeno.[8] The panelists, who were also 2016 Adelaide Biennial artists, included Louise Haselton, Danie Mellor and Clare Milledge.[8]

Her work is held in many public collections, including the Powerhouse Museum, National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and the Queensland Art Gallery.[1][9][10][11] Greeno’s work, Shell Necklace, 1995, held at the National Gallery of Australia, is made from a variety of materials, including Cockles, Maireener shells, cat's teeth, button shells and string.[12]

To create her works Greeno spends months collecting and polishing shells. These necklaces hold great cultural significance, often created by descendants of Tasmanian Aboriginal people from Cape Barren Island as expressions of devotion, parting or love.[13]

In 2020, Greeno's work Green Maireener shell necklace was featured in the National Gallery of Australia's exhibition, Know My Name, an initiative to celebrate the work of all women artists.[14]