Cape York is a long peninsula pointing towards the Torres Strait and Papua New Guinea. The climate is tropical and humid. Until the arrival of the settlers, the population was large and the artistic production very original, as evidenced by countless galleries of cave art. Today, the population is sparse. The inhabitants were gathered in missions and reserves which became very isolated Aboriginal municipalities. This is the case of Lockhart River where an artistic movement developed spontaneously, with no known direct link with the movements in the desert or Arnhem Land.

Irene Namok is one of Queensland's most notable artists. His paintings all have as a source of inspiration the surroundings of Lockhart River, its lush vegetation, its marshes, its monsoon rains and even the ocean. This inspiration is more than formal since it is necessary to take into account the aboriginal culture of the artist which has as its basis the sacred relationship with the environment. Although painting in a different style, their works all shine through the use of bright colors in an abstract style, sometimes figurative but always imbued with great lyricism.