Elam international print workshop

5centsapound:

Vernon Ah Kee is a conceptual contemporary artist based in Brisbane, Australia. Born in North Queensland, Australia, Ah Kee’s work speaks to the universal issues of racism, colonialism, suffering and the perseverance of Indigenous peoples. 

Ah Kee began with his text works, informed by war and propoganda posters and advertising imagery: these works use the direct effect of text whilst creating abstract shapes through a play with kerning and positioning. Ah Kee states, “Text is immediate. If there’s something you want to say - write it” (borninthisskin, 2009). Ah Kee later began to produce drawings and portraits.

The first show of these was Fantasties of the Good at Bellas Milani Gallery in 2004. These portraits draw upon anthropological imagery gathered in the 1930s when it was widely believed that Aboriginal people would become extinct. Ah Kee uses images of his own relatives that we photographed during this time, holding a close personal link to his subjects. In CantChant Ah Kee produced surfboards with rainforest-shield designs. More recently, Ah Kee has produced video works relating to the Palm Island riots. These works were shown in Tall Man in 2010. In 2011 he began to produce paintings - his first show of these was Bad Sign in 2011. This show served as a more conceptual continuation of Tall Man. His painted portrait of Lex Wotton was a finalist in the Archibald Prize 2012.

qagoma:

Reko Rennie’s introduction to art was through graffiti and the street galleries of urban Melbourne. After researching his family’s history, Rennie was inspired to combine street art with his traditions.

Rennie uses iconic diamond designs relating to the kinship system governing Kamilaroi society, from marriage rules and social engagement to ceremony. These designs, which functioned as identifiers and maps, were used as body decoration, and for sand sculptures and tree carvings.

Over the top of this geometric background, Rennie exuberantly exclaims ‘2%er’ in gold paint: 2 per cent is the proportion of the Australian population who identify as Indigenous. With this work, Rennie proclaims his pride at being part of this 2 per cent.

Reko Rennie, Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi peoples, b.1974 | Trust the 2% 2013 | Site-specific commission for ‘My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia’.

‘My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia’ is currently on display at GOMA until 7 October 2013.

(via qagoma-deactivated20171221)