Samantha Cook

Samantha Cook is a Nyikina woman from the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia who is based between Los Angeles and Australia. Cook is a playwright, writer, artist, graphic designer, educator, arts manager and leader in Indigenous arts. She began her career in publishing as the first Aboriginal graphic designer for Magabala Books in Broome. Awarded National NAIDOC Female Youth of the Year in 1999 and Broome Aboriginal Artist of the Year in 1998, Cook was the founding Aboriginal columnist for Artshub and Tracker, and founder of Australia's Blak History Month. A retired musician, she was the director of The Dreaming Festival and a programmer of the Woodford Folk Festival. She became the CEO of Aboriginal theatre company Yirra Yaakin before launching KMBA Agency, an international arts, entertainment and event management company. Recipient of the UK Arts Council Fellowship in 2007 and 2011, Cook is also co-founder of a multi award-winning tech start-up Kaltja (pronounced Culture) and led the social change movement #SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA. In 2020 she joined the board of the Australian Music Alliance.

Penny Tweedie spent a year travelling around Australia in 2000 photographing and interviewing successful young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which resulted in her 2001 book Indigenous Australia: Standing Strong. When Tweedie took this photo, Cook was working as a book designer in Broome.

Gift of the artist 2004
© Estate of Penny Tweedie