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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. —
Art of glass: Yhonnie Scarce
Feature by Jared ThomasThe first Aboriginal student to graduate from the University of South Australia with a major in glass, Yhonnie Scarce makes blown glass objects that explore Aboriginal history and draw on her Kokatha and Nukunu ancestry. —
Beaver Lennon: painting country
Feature by Nici CumpstonTrainee curator of Indigenous Australian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia Nici Cumpston writes about the new art of Beaver Lennon a young emerging artist of Mirning and Antikirinjara people who lives in Ceduna on the far west coast of South Australia.
His great-grandmother was the author of the memoir 'I'm the one that know this country, the story of Jessie Lennon and Coober Pedy'. —
Casting Shadows
Feature by Romaine MoretonRomaine Moreton is a Research Fellow at Umulliko, The Wollotuka Institute at the University of Newcastle. She is an Indigenous phenomenologist whose research interrogates how Indigenous peoples engage with and negotiate Western media-making practices nationally and internationally, with special focus on representation and Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP). —
Dianne Jones : a little less conversation
Feature by Clotilde BullenCurator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia Clotilde Bullen provides insight into Nyoongar artist Dianne Jones' use of humour and iconic images from Western art to make hard-hitting blak art about racism, the absence of black faces in history and the portrayal of black women. —
From Tiwi with love: Bindi Cole
Feature by Stephen GilchristYamatji man Stephen Gilchrist is curator of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. He writes about recent winner of the 2009 'Victorian Indigenous Art Awards' Bindi Cole's provocative artwork as an inventive addition to the genre of portraiture photography. —
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. —
Look good feel good: the healing
Feature by Jenny FraserMurri woman Jenny Fraser has recently completed a Masters in Indigenous Wellbeing at Southern Cross University in Lismore. She writes about different avenues for wellbeing for all Australians through practices known by Indigenous Australians.
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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. —
Nowhere Boy
Feature by Djon MundineEmeritus Curator Djon Mundine OAM, currently Indigenous Curator of Contemporary Art at Campbelltown Arts Centre, Western Sydney, spills his guts on the current state of play as he sees it in Australian Aboriginal art where fashion has overtaken activism and some artists are just so hot right now. —
Richard Bell : matter of fact
Feature by Bruce McLeanWirri man Bruce McLean of the Birri Gubba nation is Associate Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. He writes in detail about the complex art practice of Richard (or is it Richie) Bell and his T-shirt wearing, scholarly reading and artworks in many media that confront Australian mores with reference to the Black Panthers and proppaNOW. —
Tayenebe/exchange: Tasmanian Aboriginal women and fibre work
Feature by Julie GoughA committed revitalisation is underway in Tasmania amongst Aboriginal women to teach and learn kelp and plant knowledge, making and weaving skills. tayenebe - a Tasmanian Aboriginal word meaning exchange is an exhibition resulting from more than two years of workshops by more than thirty Tasmanian Aboriginal women and girls aged from 8 to 88 whose work features in this exhibition currently touring nationally. Tasmanian Aboriginal artist, writer and curator Julie Gough reflects on how connections between people, place and inheritance are being renewed through making. —
Tony Albert: there’s no place like home
Feature by Bruce McLeanWirri man Bruce McLean of the Birri Gubba nation is currently Associate Curator, Indigenous Australian Art at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. He writes with personal insight about the art practice of the youngest member of proppaNOW Tony Albert who comes from Cardwell in Queensland and was included in the 2009 Havana Biennale. —
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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Young artists of Aurukun
Preview by Tony AlbertFor the Adelaide Festival, Aptos Cruz Gallery in the Adelaide Hills is showcasing an extensive range of art from senior and emerging Aurukun artists, with about 35 works representing all artists using the art centre. This is a great opportunity to see new creations coming from the community. The exhibition continues to 4 April 2010. —
Other articles & reviews
in this issue
- Artrave
By Edblog - Spotlight on Queensland Indigenous art
By QIAMEA - Exhibitions 2 Watch
ETW by Stephanie Radok - 6th Asia Pacific Triennial
Review by Timothy Morrell - APT6 another look
Review by Kate Woodcroft - Barks, Birds and Billabongs
Review by Stephanie Radok - Charlie Sofo
Review by Dunja Rmandic - Critical Generosity
Review by Lisa Harms - Culture Warriors
Review by Khadija La - Danny McDonald
Review by Caroline Durré - Full Circle
Review by Tasha Finn - Hans Kreiner
Review by Annika Evans - Kim Stanley Medlen
Review by Ric Spencer - Menagerie
Review by Janet Maughan - MONA FOMA
Review by Andrew Harper - Paul Uhlmann
Review by Ted Snell - Sangeeta Sandrasegar
Review by Shivangi Ambani