Week 8: Contemporary Urban Indigenous Art

"Everything a family can be proud of and everything a family can be ashamed of can be shown on gallery walls."

 

The Boomalli artist collective started in 1984 in NSW. It consisted of Urban Aboriginal artists who were frustrated by the refusal of galleries and cultural institutions. This is said to be the beginning of Urban Aboriginal artists.

 

 



Richard Bell is a Political Artist. His work has been described as smart and poetic as he uses humour and blatant honesty to address issues such as deaths in custody and alcoholism etc. Richard Bell won the 2004 Telstra Award however he created controversy after wearing a shirt with the text 'White girls can't hump'. He also works in film which features his persona 'Richie'.

      

'Bells Theorem' 2002

'Life On a Mission' 2009 

 

'The Peckin Order' 2007

Vernon Ah Kee is an artist who has focused on drawings and portraits of his family members and ancestors. He has been known to draw on the back of surfboards addressing surf culture and Indigenous culture. His work is deceptively simple however he works in layers and there are long back stories behind his works. His work 'Not an Animal or a Plant' is in response to the introduction of the referendum in 1967.

'Not an Animal or a Plant'

 

Tony Albert was born in 1981. The particular image below is his take on addressing how young Indigenous Australians have taken on and embraced African American culture. This is due to the similarities between the struggles throughout history the two cultures have faced.

Gordon Hookey is an Urban Indigenous artist who focuses mainly in the practice of painting. He is known for his works have a child like style which incorporates his common use of incorrect spelling and wording. He addresses issues with politics in sport and the problems with literacy and numeracy education in Aboriginal culture.

"The Black C"

Laurie Nilsen trained as an illustrator and designer however he also works in sculpture. The graphic artist grew up on a farm in the bush with Emu's as pets and would often see them killed and hanging on barb wire fences on his land. He has created a poetic piece. The thing that killed the animal he loves has been used to make the thing he loves.

"Goolburris on the Bungil Creek" 2007

 

The graphic artist also created a piece in response to Pauline Hanson's comments about fishing rights. The politics behind the work give the work a whole new dimension.

"Baited" 2010

 

Lin Onus is a very well known and successful Urban artist. His work featuring the fruit bats comments on the history of Australia's country and culture sitting in your backyard. He has combined an iconic Australian household item with Indigenous designs.

"Fruits Bats" 1991

Jason Wing is part Indigenous Australian and part Chinese. He does a lot of Political pieces and works that feature drug abuse. The image below is a similar response to the concept first created by Richard Bell addressing stereotypes in society.

Jason Wing

Reko Rennie is known for his graffiti style work on iconic Australian images and animals.

"(AB)ORIGINAL" 2010

Mervyn Bishop was the first Aboriginal press photographer. He is was born in NSW. This image is about land rights and shows PM Gough Whitlam pouring soil into the hands of traditional land owner Vincent Lingiari in 1975.

Rick Maynard was born in Tasmania in 1953. He is a self taught photographer after experience as a dark room technitian. He took the photo below in a South Australian prison. It relates to the number of deaths and suicides in custody of Indigenous Australians. This image is particularly moving because of the relationship Maynard creates with his subject. Despite the confronting scars on the subjects arms, the position of the arms implies a sense of surrender and hopelessness.

 

"I've let my frustrations go, and I wonder about the others, will they let their frustrations out here or release them on the community? I often wonder, with the experience I have of frequently visiting this place, how different I will be when I get released from prison."