The latest in our Portrait of an Artist series focuses on Vernon Ah Kee, one of Australia’s most well-known First Nations artists.
Vernon Ah Kee, (Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji, Koko Berrin and Gugu Yimithirr) was born in Innisfail and studied art at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. In 2004, he co-founded the now-legendary ProppaNow artists’ collective with fellow artists Richard Bell and Jennifer Herd, which grew to include Gordon Hookey, Laurie Nilsen, Bianca Beetson, Andrea Fisher and Tony Albert. Vernon’s work has been exhibited in a number of culturally significant national and international exhibitions over the last 20-plus years and is widely collected by major public institutions and private collectors.
Although his multi-faceted practice covers an array of disciplines ranging from large-scale sensitive pencil drawings of his ancestors to text-based works and installations, all are equally hard-hitting. Vernon’s work critiques contemporary Australian culture from an Aboriginal perspective, yet also responds to our colonial history which saw artists and photographers romanticise and exoticise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Through his work, Vernon seeks to remind all Australians that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are a living, breathing, contemporary culture and not the historical ‘other’ as projected in museums and archives.
Join Vernon in conversation with Angela Goddard, Director of Griffith University Art Museum, discussing his perspective and practice in what promises to be an engaging and inspiring event.
Image: Vernon Ah Kee. Photographer: Joe Ruckli. Image courtesy Milani Gallery.
