Blak on blak
Political, satirical, hard-hitting art by blak artists around Australia is assessed and discussed by blak writers. Brought to prominence by the collective ProppaNOW in Brisbane, these works challenge ignorance and racism through deadly blak humour, irony and parody. Queensland, known in the 1980s as the Moonlight State, was the hotbed that bred the confrontational art of these artists.
In a dynamic Australian publishing first both the Editor Daniel Browning, and assistant editor Tess Allas, are Indigenous, and all of the features are written by Indigenous writers. Some like Djon Mundine, Margo Neale and Brenda L Croft are well known as curators and essayists, others are newer on the publishing scene. All engage vigorously with their subjects - the artists Vernon Ah Kee, Richard Bell, Fiona Foley, Gordon Hookey, Tony Albert and Jennifer Herd.
Donna Leslie provides a poignant look back at pioneer of political Aboriginal art, the late Lin Onus. The politics of skin, Aboriginality, colonial history and gender are a part of the mix with the works of Dianne Jones, Bindi Cole, Yhonnie Scarce and Gary Lee.
BLAK on BLAK was launched in Utrecht, at a special forum which was part of the FRAMER FRAMED series curated by Cas Bool. http://framerframed.nl/en/projects/de-eigen-blik/ DON'T MISS THE VODCASTS FROM THIS EVENT! For more information and vodcasts clickhere
Blak on Blak podcast from Artworks on ABC Radio National: Click here for more info and podcast
Djon Mundine launching BLAK on BLAK from Stephen Hooper on Vimeo.
Topic list: body image, cultural policy, dissent, gender, humour, identity, indigenous culture, politics, reconciliation, survival, traditional culture.
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Articles in Vol 30 no 1, 2010
Editorial
Editorial by Daniel BrowningIt was Destiny Deacon who first used the term 'blak' in the Australian context. Deacon says the term takes the 'c' out of 'bloody black cunts'.
'Blak on blak' is perhaps the first attempt to draw out how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts writers and curators think about our practising artists. We are compatriots, but there is a place for us to criticise their work as fellow countrymen and women. —
Gary Lee: the outsider
Feature by Daniel BrowningPhotographer Gary Lee makes work saturated with beauty and homoeroticism. His photographs of Aboriginal men are celebratory, bold and uncompromising. —
Gordon Hookey : Flash Gordon’s message - language is a virus 
Feature by Brenda L CroftCurator, artist and South Australian School of Art lecturer Brenda L. Croft gives the lowdown on Gordon Hookey's really rude and loud art that uses language and Australian animals to put the boot into racism and lend a voice to the silenced. —
History is a weapon: Fiona Foley history teacher
Feature by Tess AllasBadtjala woman Fiona Foley is a sculptor, installation artist, painter, printmaker, photographer, public artist, curator, lecturer and public speaker.
Her work addresses lacunae and silences in Australian history, opening wounds and drawing attention to important topics of the past and how it affects the present. —
Learning to be proppa : Aboriginal artists collective ProppaNOW
Feature by Margo NealeSenior Research Fellow and Senior Curator at the National Museum of Australia Margo Neale presents an incisive account of the genesis of proppaNOW the Queensland collective of urban Aboriginal Artists who are making waves in Australia and internationally with their intelligent brash art. —
Lin Onus: picturing histories, speaking politics
Feature by Donna LeslieArt historian and painter Gamilaroi/Gamilaraay woman Donna Leslie examines the work and the legacy of Lin Onus, its humour, its depth and its urgency. —
Not black enough, the politics of skin
Feature by Daniel BrowningBundjalung man, journalist and radio broadcaster Daniel Browning, guest editor of this issue of Artlink, writes about the current state of racism and Aboriginality in Australia. —
Spotlight on Queensland Indigenous art
By QIAMEAThe Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency (QIAMEA) was established in 2003 to promote the export of quality Queensland Indigenous art globally and nationally.
A focal point for Queensland Indigenous art will be the 2nd Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) to be held from 20 to 22 August 2010.
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Vernon Ah Kee - sovereign warrior
Feature by Garry JonesGarry Jones teaches Aboriginal Studies and Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. Through his mother he is of Gamilaroi and Ngemba descent from Brewarrina in north-western New South Wales. In Artlink's blak on blak issue he writes at length about the subtle and anger-driven art practice of Vernon Ah Kee whose work featured in the 2009 Venice Biennale in a group exhibition of early career Australian artists at The Ludoteca curated by Felicity Fenner.
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