the black see - KickArts Contemporary Arts

THE BLACK SEE
19 AUGUST TO 5 NOVEMBER 2011
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Cover image: Jennifer Herd, Warrior woman 1,2,3 (detail), digital image, 2011
This resource accompanies the major body of work created by proppaNOW for the
2011 exhibition, The Black See.
KickArts Contemporary Arts is a not for profit company limited by guarantee and
is supported financially by Arts Queensland and the Australia Council for the Arts
through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and
Territory Governments.
Exhibition Sponsors and Partners:
Arts Queensland
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair
Backing Indigenous Arts
Australia Council
National Arts and Craft Industry Support
Boom Sherrin
KickArts Contemporary Arts
96 Abbott Street Cairns QLD 4870 Australia
Postal address: PO Box 6090 Cairns QLD 4870 Australia
www.kickarts.org.au
[email protected]
Telephone: 07 4050 9494
International telephone +61 7 4050 9494
Artists: Tony Albert, Vernon Ah Kee, Bianca Beetson, Richard Bell, Jennifer Herd,
Gordon Hookey, Laurie Nilsen
Director: Ingrid Hoffmann
Curator: Sam Creyton
Writers and contributors: Ingrid Hoffmann, Tony Albert, Vernon Ah Kee, Bianca Beetson, Richard Bell, Jennifer Herd, Gordon Hookey, Laurie Nilsen, Sam Creyton.
Design and production: Sam Creyton
Photography: Courtesy the artists, Vernon Ah Kee, Colyn Huber
Proof Reading: Beverley Mitchell, Ingrid Hoffmann
© KickArts Contemporary Arts 2011
Copyright KickArts Contemporary Arts, the artist and authors 2011. This work
is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968,
no part may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher.
No illustration in this publication may be reproduced without the permission of
the copyright owners. Neither may information be stored electronically in any
form whatsoever without such permission. Requests and enquiries concerning
reproduction and rights should be addressed to the publisher. The views expressed
are not necessarily those of the publisher.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
2
Introduction
4
The Black See
5
proppaNOW
6
Tony Albert
8
Vernon Ah Kee 10
Bianca Beetson 12
Richard Bell 14
Jennifer Herd 16
Gordon Hookey 18
Laurie Nilsen 20
Collaborations 22
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INTRODUCTION
Twenty years ago in Cairns, around a dozen artists who
welcomed social, political and aesthetic debate founded the
then Kick Arts Collective. Their shared conviction endures
through the forward-looking exhibitions presented in the
KickArts galleries at the Cairns Centre of Contemporary Art.
Most fitting in 2011 is that KickArts hosts an exhibition for
the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair by the proppaNOW Collective,
Queensland’s doyens of political discourse about Indigenous
identity. The Black See confronts racism, name-calling and
breaches of human rights in Australian sport. The artists are:
Tony Albert, Vernon Ah Kee, Bianca Beetson, Richard Bell,
Jennifer Herd, Gordon Hookey and Laurie Nilsen. Individually
and as the collective force that is proppaNOW, their images
pack a powerful punch.
The Black See is arresting in many arenas, with seductive
photographs, vibrant painting, blatant text and abundant
puns deployed in an arsenal of ironic commentary (see
the ‘C’ word). Intriguing for art lovers who don’t necessarily
relate to competitive sport as a cultural activity, is the fact
that for so many Indigenous people, a passion to excel in a
spectrum of games and competitions is innate. As Vernon
Ah Kee eloquently expresses, ‘The sense of combat, victory,
and defeat are what we taste in our mouths and feel in our
muscles and bones’, just like any white-fella: any white-fella
who name-calls and taunts, and subjects Indigenous rivals
on the field to inexcusable abuse.
The KickArts board of directors and staff are enormously
proud to host The Black See for the quality of its content and
because we believe that art can affect social change. We
also acknowledge the creative collaboration between curator
Samantha Creyton and proppaNOW, which has yielded such
a strong show.
We know this exhibition will leave an enduring mark; we know
that proppaNOW are deadly critics and agents of change.
Ingrid Hoffmann | Director | KickArts Contemporary Arts
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THE BLACK SEE
Aboriginal people love sport. We love it for all the reasons
any individual or group should love it. It’s the passion that
sport generates; the way a good contest energises the
competitors and enthralls a crowd; the thrill of victory and
the pain of defeat. The Black See, however, is less about
Aboriginal enjoyment of sport and more about Aboriginal
engagement with sport.
hold of the stadiums and big events, the bald-faced racism
long embedded in name-calling continues unabated and
without shame. It does have a long history as normalised
behaviour in this country, perhaps starting with artist Norman
Lindsay producing cartoons of Tommy Burns and Jack
Johnson to accompany some of the newspapers’ diatribe.
And didn’t writer Henry Lawson call Johnson a ‘nigger’?
If you talk to any Aboriginal person who plays sport in
Australia, they can readily tell you that it’s the excitement and
passion that draws you into the game and out onto the field.
The sense of combat, victory, and defeat are what we taste in
our mouths and feel in our muscles and bones. But equally,
any Aboriginal will tell you that the most common experience
for Aborigines in sport is not the winning or losing, it is not the
camaraderie, and it is not the sense of belonging to a club or
team, it is name-calling. And a term most commonly fired at
Blackfellas playing sport is, of course, ‘Black C***’. It is as if,
in terms of sport, all of the well-practised, wide-ranging forms
of racist insult and name-calling have become essential and
distilled over the years into this ubiquitous term. And if you
happen to be very good, the term is merely directed at you
more often and with more venom.
The Black See is also about how Aborigines encounter racism
in Australia. It is about deeply embedded attitudes on race
in societies like Australia where long-established preserves
exist for not only what white people enjoy and like to engage
in, but also as ‘places’ where these specially crafted activities
can be located. The effect of the ‘preserve’ is especially
noticeable in sport where echelons of influence and decisionmaking in the past determined, for the Aborigine, not only
if you were even permitted to participate in a particular
sport, but what would be the level of Aboriginal participation/
inclusion in sport, and many more subtle forms of exclusion.
Subtler forms of racism seem obvious but may not be: rugby
league player Andrew Johns apologised ‘unreservedly’ for
his comment, and continues to provide commentary for
Channel Nine’s Rugby League broadcasts; and despite their
prevalence and history, Aboriginal cricketers still struggle for
participation or permanence in representative sides.
It can be said that the Australian form of racial insult and namecalling formalised and normalised itself during the lead-up to
the championship boxing match between Jack Johnson and
Tommy Burns for the heavyweight title in Sydney in 1908.
While the bout made headlines internationally, the Australian
press had a field day labeling Johnson every racial epitaph
imaginable, far too many to detail here. Suffice it to say, as a
survey of the depth and breadth of insult that can be leveled
at one person, it is comprehensive.
At the time of the Johnson-Burns contest, ‘Australia’, a newly
federated state, is only seven years old and reveling its
status as a newly formed ‘white’ country. Commensurate with
its sense of ‘white’ worth, the Australian public felt not only
justified, but euphoric at the prospect of witnessing on ‘home’
soil the heavyweight champion of the world, a white man,
defending the title for the first time against a black man. The
Burns victory, expectant and resounding, serving to vindicate
white entitlement everywhere. It is a matter of history of
course that unfolding events did not quite play out that way.
Sport informs so much of the national psyche in Australia that
a lot of the behavioral gestures and vernacular are very much
a part of everyday life in this country. There is a normalcy to,
and an acceptance of, the ‘C’mon’ or the ‘Oi, Oi, Oi’. The use
of the term ‘Black C***’, along with other particular favourites
of name-calling, is so commonly used on and off the sporting
field in Australia, you could be forgiven for believing the
delivering/receiving of it to be essential to actual sporting
engagement. Whether this is true or not doesn’t change the
fact of its prevalence. And while hooliganism hasn’t yet taken
Two notable sporting figures who suffered greatly under the
weight of racism in Australia are boxer Elley Bennett and
cricketer Eddie Gilbert. Elley Bennett, renown throughout
his career as one of the hardest punchers in the game,
was nevertheless subject to the Queensland Aborigine’s
Act, his earnings having been withheld from him during
the course of his prizefighting career by the Queensland
Government. When Bennett, upon retirement, tried to
claim his winnings, a fortune estimated to be upwards
of £25,000, he was informed there were none for him to
claim, the Government subsequently having no knowledge
of his withheld earnings having ever existed. Eddie Gilbert
is justifiably regarded as one of Australia’s quickest fast
bowlers. Playing for Queensland against New South Wales
in 1931, Gilbert famously dismissed Donald Bradman for a
duck. Subsequently, and after being called for throwing (13
times) later that year in a game against Victoria, Gilbert’s
action was continually questioned by the media of the time
and he was dropped from the Queensland team two years
later ‘due to poor form’. Under the ‘Act’, Gilbert had needed
written permission whenever he was required to travel from
his Aboriginal settlement of Barambah (now Cherbourg) to
play in a first-class match, suffering a torrent of abuse every
time he took the field.
Vernon Ah Kee | proppaNOW, August 2011
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proppaNOW is a collective of Aboriginal artists set up in
Brisbane in 2004 to give urban based Aboriginal artists
a voice. The proppaNOW collective is at the forefront of
contemporary art in Australia and the eight individuals who
make up the group have exhibited in museums and galleries
around the world. proppaNOW challenges the notion of what
Aboriginal art is. The artists use their art to forcefully push for
social change, while paying homage to their cultural roots.
They use paintings, sculptures, film and photos to address
issues of racism, displacement, land rights, the environment
and to challenge ‘white’ ideas of Aboriginal art and Aboriginal
life in society today. They don’t do dots, they don’t do art
about the dreamtime, they do art about NOW. Tony Albert,
Vernon Ah Kee, Bianca Beetson, Richard Bell, Megan Cope,
Jennifer Herd, Gordon Hookey and Laurie Nilsen are the
proppaNOW collective.
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The Black See, Installation Gallery 1, KickArts Contemporary Arts, 2011
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TONY ALBERT
Tony Albert is a Brisbane-based artist, who was born in North Queensland. His family comes from Cardwell, situated in the rainforest
area of the far north. In 2004 Tony completed a degree in Visual Arts majoring in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art. Tony
Albert’s artworks are complex interrogations into the human condition. Mining imagery and source material from across the globe
and drawing upon personal and collective histories, Albert questions how we understand and imagine difference. Weaving together
text appropriated from popular music, film, fiction and art history along with clichéd images of extraterrestrials, photographs of his
family in Lucha Libre and an immense collection of “Aboriginalia” (a term Albert has coined to describe objects such as ash trays,
drink coasters, velvet paintings, tea-towels and playing cards which include naïve images of Australian Aboriginal people and their
culture) Albert presents a tapestry of ideas. Albert engages in a sophisticated negotiation with his viewers, enacting both good and
bad cop with his confrontational and unapologetic stance coupled with punching humour and hope.
Artist Statement
13.06.2010
Dear Gordon Bennett,
1999 was my last year of high school and the year I went to see your exhibition History and Memory in the Art of Gordon Bennett.
It was the first art exhibition I ever attended. It changed my life forever. My sister and I were the only Aboriginal kids at our school
and beyond my family there were very few ‘Black’ role models. Seeing your paintings opened up a whole new world of possibilities.
I realised that there was a way to articulate the feelings I had about myself and to understand my life story. I was no longer alone.
After leaving school I studied visual art at university, where I was given your book The Art of Gordon Bennett. I looked through its
pages over and over again. To this day your work continues to be an incredible motivator for my own art and life.
I wanted to write to you a letter today. This morning I opened the local paper to find an article about a prominent football coach
who had used the term “black cunt” in reference to an Aboriginal player. Even in the arena of professional sport, one of the few
mainstream activities where Black people have been celebrated for their achievements, such language is often considered a casual
remark. However, this morning’s news story broke, when a player from the team quit in disgust. The coach denied he was a racist,
thinking the use of such derogatory language was just “banter” amongst the boys.
As I read the article, your work Daddy’s Little Girl 2 (1994) came to mind. I thought of how the father sits on his lounge chair in the
corner of the living room with his back to the viewer, relaxing with a smoker’s pipe in hand. His daughter plays with toy blocks on
the carpet in front of him. She wears her pretty Sunday dress and her blonde hair is tied with a ribbon. She uses toy blocks to spell
out the words ABO, BOONG, COON, and DARKIE. She points them toward her father to gain his approval, love and attention. The
Southern Cross floats in the background, strategically placed within a crucifix. It is a powerful work illustrating how racism is taught
from one generation to the next.
As I continue to read the article and think about your work, I wonder if you imagined that some sixteen years later, derogatory and
racist language could still be the centre of attention in the Queensland media? Could you have predicted that the Southern Cross
would become the symbolic branding for a growing number of young Australians keen to demonstrate their xenophobic views?
The cycle of racism is ever present. We must always hope it will be broken. Even though we have never met, you are my mentor.
Your work keeps me going. It is a guiding voice. I wanted to make a new work based on your painting, not in an attempt to gain
greater recognition or steal your work, but to honour your message.
You inspire me.
Tony Albert
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Daddy’s little girl 2010 (after Gordon Bennett) 2011, mixed media, triptych
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VERNON AH KEE
Vernon Ah Kee was born in North Queensland and is of the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Koko Berrin, Yidindji and Gugu Yimithirr peoples.
His art practice, comprised of conceptual use of text, video, 3D, photography, drawing and painting, is anchored in the artist’s own
life experiences in this country and his family’s history. Vernon’s work is primarily a critique of Australian culture, specifically its
inherent black/white dichotomy. In 2007 he was selected for Culture Warriors, the National Gallery of Australia’s inaugural National
Indigenous Art Triennial; in 2008 he was selected for Revolutions: Forms That Turn, the 16th Biennale of Sydney; and in 2009 he
represented Australia in the 53rd Venice Biennale in Italy with his CantChant Installation (text, surfboards, video) for the ancillary
group exhibition Once Removed. Vernon has exhibited throughout Australia and internationally where major institutions have
collected his work.
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stop that Black Cunt (after Andrew Johns 2010) 2011, acrylic text
look at him, mate, look at him, and you tell me what the similarity is (after Lleyton Hewitt 2001) 2011, acrylic text
kaffirboetie (c’mon aussie, c’mon 2005) 2011, acrylic text
kaffir (after Brydan Klein 2009) 2011, acrylic text
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BIANCA BEETSON
Bianca is a Kabi Kabi woman, born in Roma Western Queensland. She studied a Bachelor of Arts, Visual Arts (Honours), at the
Queensland University of Technology. Bianca’s work is usually pink, with the occasional variation of hue or medium, which has
become the signature for her work. It is not just the colour pink alone that makes her work so unique, but rather her use of humour
and satire to critique issues of importance. Bianca’s work is concerned with her identity as an Aboriginal, the commodification of
Aboriginal culture; the demarcation of ‘art’, ‘artifact’ and ‘kitsch’; critique of the social and cultural structures; and the critique of the
‘beauty’ and the ‘feminine’. Blended with references to the work of twentieth century artists such as Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Lin
Onus, Rover Thomas, Richard Bell and Andy Warhol.
Artist statement
Playing on is a portrait of my Uncle Arthur Beetson. Arthur Beetson is one of the Rugby League immortals and was the first
Aboriginal Australian to captain an Australian sports team. Arthur was born in the 1940’s in Roma, Western QLD and experienced
racism in many forms from birth. This work recalls numerous occasion where Artie has been the recipient of racism or been asked to
give his opinion on an issue of racism in sport. Central to all these stories Artie talks about the importance of not letting racist taunts
and sledging affect your performance on and off the field and he encourages players to laugh off racist taunts and play on.
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Playing on - portrait of Artie Beetson, 2011, texta on hahneműhle paper
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RICHARD BELL
Born in Charleville in 1953, into the Kamilaroi tribe. Richard was a leader in the first group of urban Indigenous artists whose work
provided a means of expression during the lead up to the 1988 bi-centenary of white Australian settlement. During this time, Richard
focused on ‘challenging non-Indigenous artists who appropriated Indigenous imagery in their work’ and the perceived notions of
traditional and modern Indigenous art. As well, his work addresses contemporary issues such as religion, art and politics. Richard
now lives in Brisbane. Richard’s works are described as ‘totemic animal, dot application, cross hatching and traditional hand stencils’
examining ‘the historical treatment of Aboriginal people after European settlement’. These are seen as Richard’s response to
issues of oppression, frustration and discrimination. Richard believes that, “… it is my job as an artist to test people’s resolve, to
provoke thought and that’s what I do, I provoke thought and discussion.” With more than 20 years of incendiary production behind
him the ‘enfant terrible’ of Australian Art is never lost for words or wit.
Artist statement
My work is almost always political. This work combines politics and sport.
This image is one of the most iconic of the 20th Century. It depicts the medal winners on the victory dais following the result of
the Men’s 200m sprint at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The first and third placegetters were the Americans Tommie Smith
and John Carlos respectively. Splitting them was Peter Norman, an Australian. They were to become life-long friends. The story
preceding and following the ceremony is extraordinary.
It begins with talk of an Olympic boycott by Black American athletes in support of American Civil Rights Movement led by Dr
Martin Luther King Jr. Smith and Carlos were expected to finish one, two. Norman upset the party by snatching second from
Carlos a stride or two from the finish.
After the event, they asked Norman’s permission to perform their protest. Norman had grown up in a Salvation Army home with
strong Christian values and he willingly agreed. He also asked the Americans about the badges they were wearing – they were
the United Nations’ ‘Olympic Project for Human Rights’ badges. Carlos reputedly asked Norman would he wear one if he could
get one, to which the answer was “yes”.
Smith and Carlos returned to the United States to face a hostile reception and ostracism, while Norman’s return was much more
low-key. However, he wasn’t chosen in the Australian Olympic team to contest the next Olympics in Munich, 1972. Nor was
Norman invited to walk a lap of honour with every other living Australian who had won an Olympic Medal at the Sydney Olympics
in 2000. This was a hurtful and mean-spirited approach to a champion athlete and outstanding human being.
Peter Norman was a hero for all Australians.
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A white hero for Black Australia, 2011, acrylic on canvas. (Collaboration with Emory Douglas)
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JENNIFER HERD
Jennifer Herd née Malthouse was born in Brisbane in 1951. She is a descendant of the Mbarbaram people whose family, clan and
cultural connections lie in the Far North of Queensland where her mother and grandmother’s people are from. Jennifer completed
studies in Fashion Design from Queensland College of Art, at Seven Hills in 1984. After working for a number of years in the theatre
and fashion field, she went on to complete a Diploma of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) from Queensland University of
Technology in 1990. In 2003 she completed a Master of Visual Arts winning the Queensland College of Art Post Graduate Student
prize, the Theiss Art Prize. She is currently undertaking a Doctorate in Visual Arts. A committed practicing artist for the last 17
years Jennifer is also a full time lecturer at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. In recent years Jennifer made a shift from
costume making to installation works, as well as painting, photography and sculpture. Ms Herd is currently the convener and lecturer
in the Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art Program at the Queensland College of Art. She is an active and founding member
of the proppaNOW Artists Collective.
Artist statement
Warrior woman 1,2,3 looks at issues of racism and discrimination of women in sport and its affect on us as people. Sport is more
often seen as something that unites people rather than dividing them. One of the main challenges is to put an end to incidents of
racism in sport.
Boxing and the women as warrior is the subject matter I have chosen to respond to in this work. Boxing was the first experience I
had as a child observing Aboriginal boxers take on all comers for money at the Brisbane EKKA. This attraction appeared to make
a spectacle of Aboriginal people. Racism and discrimination is still alive in many sporting arenas from boxing to cricket and football
and to this I include the issue of exclusion of women from male dominated sports.
An incident that stands out in my mind about racism in sport was the Springbok Tour in 1971 when an all white rugby team that came
to Australia on tour from South Africa. I was confounded as to what all the fuss was about. It was the first time I had observed such
violent political outbursts involving white protesters over racist policies against the treatment of black people. It did not seem to occur
to anyone at the time that things were not right in our own back yard.
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Warrior woman 1,2,3, 2011, digital photographs, editions of 5
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GORDON HOOKEY
Gordon Hookey was born in Cloncurry, Queensland, and belongs to the Waanyi people. Hookey’s work combines figurative
characters, iconic symbols, bold comic-like text and a spectrum of vibrant colours. Through this idiosyncratic visual language he has
developed a unique and immediately recognisable style. Hookey locates his art at the interface where Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
cultures converge. He explicitly attacks the establishment and implicates our current political representatives. He is widely travelled,
having exhibited and undertaken residencies in several countries and currently lives and works in Brisbane, Queensland. Gordon
Hookey is represented by Milani Gallery in Brisbane and Nellie Castan Gallery in Melbourne.
Artist statement
This triptych, entitled The Black C, is made up of two paintings and a sculpture about racism in sport and life. I have played Rugby
League at school and for minor club sides. The teams I played for were predominantly Aboriginal, playing against predominantly white
teams. The favourite and most overused sledge directed by whitefellas towards blackfellas was ‘Black C***’. ‘Black’ I understood to
mean extreme colour prejudice; but ‘C***’ as a sledge and insult from one male to another I still fail to comprehend. Nevertheless,
the old ethos of ‘what happens on the field, stays on the field’, prevails, and is accepted as a part and parcel of the game.
In 2010 at the New South Wales State of Origin training camp before the second State of Origin, which was to be played at Lang
Park in Brisbane, Queensland, a New South Wales coach referred to a Queensland player as a ‘Black C***’. This deeply offended
a New South Wales Koori player causing him to leave camp. The subsequent media attention forced the NSW coach to resign and
a racial furore ensued as the sideshow to the main event. This incident is the influence for this artwork.
The triptych reeks of tribalism reminiscent of the European soccer fans (without the hooliganism of course). This scenario comes
from the position of someone who played Rugby League, who is Murri, who is a staunch, one-eyed Queenslander, and should
want to see a fair, fast, hard, seesawing game where the Queensland Maroons are eventually victorious. But I would rather see
Queensland win 100 – nil.
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Black C, 2011, mixed media triptych
White C, 2011, acrylic on canvas with sledgehammer
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LAURIE NILSEN
Laurie Nilsen was born in Roma 1953. He moved to Brisbane in the late 1960s to become a jockey. After finishing his apprenticeship
at the age of 21, Laurie completed a three-year certificate course in commercial illustration at the Queensland College of Art. In
1989-99 he graduated from the Gippsland Institution (VIC) with a BA in Fine Arts, majoring in sculpture. Laurie’s political works
featuring barbed wire as a medium encompass cultural, political and environmental concerns. Although most of his work tackles
issues of concern for Aboriginal people he knows some of these concerns overlay and affect non-Aboriginal people also.
Artist statement
Just another Black C was produced in response to fellow proppaNOW artist Gordon Hookey’s work presented in this exhibition.
Many subjects such as art, sport, art, racism, art, sledging, art, and the art of sledging have been discussed among proppaNOW
artist for many years.
I played a bit of football during the 1970-80s, long before ‘political correctness’ came into play within Australia. White players would
try, usually successfully, to goad an opposing Aboriginal player by using the term ‘Black C***’ on the football field. The aftermath was
more often than not the Aboriginal player being ‘sent from the field’ for retaliating. The trick I came to use was to not react right away
but to deal with the offender a few tackles later with a quick blow in a tackle whilst you thought the ref wasn’t looking.
I always thought this hurt a little more as the offender had often relaxed. It was also a reminder that you had not and would not forget
such remarks quickly and if this type of racism continued, they better keep looking over their shoulder.
Today racial slurs are ‘supposedly’ unacceptable, but I feel high profile sports people in Australia, get penalised less severely than
lower profile offenders. A good example is how a past international footballer still holds a high-profile commentary position on a major
television station after being convicted of abusive and racial remarks.
“No more pretend counseling, harsher penalties are what’s needed”…
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Just another Black C, 2011, powdercoated barbed wire
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COLLABORATIONS
Vernon Ah Kee, Gordon Hookey, Laurie Nilsen
Bennett under The Act, 2011, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, boxing gloves
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Vernon Ah Kee, Gordon Hookey, Laurie Nilsen
Does he bowl or does he throw, 2011, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, cricket ball
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The Black See, Installation Gallery 1, KickArts Contemporary Arts, 2011
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