Shane Cook announced as 2025 Catapult + Tarnanthi mentorship recipient, with mentor Jo-Anne Driessens
The Catapult + Tarnanthi 2025 mentorship, presented in partnership between Guildhouse and the Art Gallery of South Australia, will see multidisciplinary artist Shane Cook, (Wulli Wulli, Guwa Koa), mentored by artist, arts worker, community facilitator and advocate Jo-Anne Driessens, (Guwa Koa, Gungarri, Kuku Yalanji). A significant career development opportunity for South Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, craftspeople, and designers, the mentorship program offers creative professionals a pivotal and career-transforming experience.
Offering essential funding to expand their artistic practices and ambitions with the guidance of a self-selected mentor, the Catapult + Tarnanthi mentorship program focuses on the mentee-mentor relationship, fostering self-reflection, research methods, and material experimentation, with support from Guildhouse staff and the Art Gallery of South Australia’s Tarnanthi team.
During their mentorship, Shane will spend time in community on Koa land, sharing knowledge and connections, experimenting with materials and techniques in his photographic practice with support from Jo-Anne, and visiting significant collections.
Of his appointment, Shane shares ‘I am very thankful to have received this mentoring opportunity. Having dedicated time to connect with Auntie Jo-Anne who will help me develop my professional identity and navigate key areas of my practice means so much to me and my family. Through our time together, identifying ways to grow how I document life, community and cultural experiences is very exciting.’
On being Shane’s chosen mentor, Jo-Anne Driessens shares ‘I applaud both Guildhouse and Shane Cook who are proactive with these types of opportunities, we are excited to share similar visions around all things photography and reconnections back to Koa country, support for emerging artists is an essential element in advancing the ecology of arts across all creative industries.’
Beth Neate, CEO Guildhouse, says ‘From an incredibly competitive field of applicants, we are delighted to share that multi-disciplinary Wulli Wulli, Guwa-Koa artist Shane Cook is the successful recipient of the 2025 Catapult + Tarnanthi mentorship, working with his chosen mentor; artist, facilitator and advocate, Jo-Anne Driessens. The shared ambitions for their collaboration, including returning to country, reminds us of the pivotal role that mentorship plays in shaping artistic careers.’
Tarnanthi Artistic Director Nici Cumpston OAM shares, ‘We are thrilled that Shane Cook is the recipient of the 2025 Catapult + Tarnanthi mentorship, alongside his chosen mentor Jo-Anne Driessens, an established artist, arts worker, facilitator and advocate with a career of over thirty years. This proposal was selected from an incredibly competitive round of applications, and we look forward to continuing to support the important role that mentorships play for artists at all stages of their careers.’
The Catapult + Tarnanthi mentorship program is presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of South Australia, with an artist talk to be included as part of the 2025 Tarnanthi Festival, 17 October 2025 – 18 January 2026. Tarnanthi is presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia with Principal Partner BHP and support from the Government of South Australia.
Guildhouse is proud to work with Tarnanthi , the Art Gallery of South Australia’s platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists to share important stories through artistic excellence, illuminating the diversity and depth of art and culture in communities nationwide through exhibitions, events and programming held at AGSA and across the state.
About the artists
Shane Cook
Inspired by both street and country environments, nature and urban landscapes, his people and his lived experience. Shane Cook is a proud Wulli Wulli and Koa (Guwa) man with many family connections throughout Queensland.
Shane was born on Kaurna Yerta (Kaurna Country/Adelaide). He has successfully followed in the footsteps, of many ancestors who were also artists and retraced family bloodlines that were lost for many years due to colonisation.
Shane’s practice as an artist began from a young age learning to paint from his mother, his interests then developed further into graffiti culture, murals and tattooing as he got older. These art movements are hugely prominent in Shane’s unique contemporary style he has developed which has led him to become a nationally recognised artist.
Shane was named Mankitya which translates to ‘the scarred one’ by his Kaurna family and Elders.
Jo-Anne Driessens
Jo-Anne was raised in Brisbane, Queensland and has been a practicing photographer for 30 years. Completing a 4-year Photography cadetship at the State Library of Queensland in 1999, Jo-Anne has also worked across various arts and community focused roles and is able to bring holistic skills into specialised projects including curatorial frameworks; historical and contemporary research experience and community and cultural protocol principles.
Her passion in working with archival records and old photos has assisted her in connecting with her Aboriginal family and learning of the historical connections to Cherbourg (Barambah) and Yarrabah communities and also the traditional connections to Guwa (Koa) people through her Great Grandmother, (Nancy Watson/Chambers) and Yalangi and Yimithirr people through her Great Grandfather (‘Tippo’/Charlie Chambers) and Gungarri through her Grandfather on her mothers blood-line
Jo-Anne has worked closely with Artists of all disciplines and has successfully delivered the South Stradbroke Island Indigenous Artist Camps (2014-2022). In mid 2022, Jo-Anne joined the Arts Law Centre of Australia as the Artists in the Black Coordinator which is a dedicated National service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists of all creative disciplines.
Image: Shane Cook, digital artwork/photo from Wulli Wulli Country, image courtesy the artist.
