The Black See at KickArts Galleries, Cairns

The Brisbane based artist collective proppaNOW has built upon their reputation for making provocative contemporary art with their exhibition The Black See at Kick Arts galleries in Cairns as part of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair. The collective is made up of seven artists: Vernon Ah Kee, Tony Albert, Bianca Beetson, Richard Bell, Jennifer Herd, Gordon Hookey and Laurie Nilsen. While each artist has their own individual practice, they regularly come together to exhibit work which reflects and responds to contemporary Aboriginal life. The Black See exhibition features work which reflects the importance of sporting culture to the Aboriginal community and responds to occurrences of racism in the sporting arena.

In the discussion panel that was held in conjunction with the opening of The Black See exhibition, proppaNOW member Vernon Ah Kee asked for a show of hands of those Murris in attendance who had not been called a ‘black cunt’ on the sporting field. I kept my hands firmly planted on my knees as did all other Indigenous audience and panel members. There was a moment of damning silence in the auditorium while Ah Kee paused to allow for rebuttal, but none was put forward. The exercise highlighted Ah Kee’s point that racism is still a prevalent issue in Australian sporting culture. This established the social context of the exhibition.

The use of text and appropriated language is a key expressive device of the proppaNOW artist collective. Their re-use of the derogatory sledge ‘black cunt’ in The Black See exhibition draws attention to the long history of racism which has been overlooked to the point of becoming normalised as part of Australian sporting culture. Gordon Hookey directly targets Rugby League identity Andrew Johns in a series of works that name and shame him for his 2010 use of the ‘black c’ in reference to an Aboriginal opponent. Two canvases and a sculpture make up Hookey’s triptych titled just that, The Black C. In a conscious effort to reduce his densely populated painting style to fewer narratives within the one composition, Hookey has arrived at an effective balance of dynamism and clarity while retaining the signatures of his visual language. A large high-gloss black letter c represents the derogatory remark in three dimensional form with Hookey’s typical dry wit.

Racial prejudice is addressed on the personal level by Bianca Beetson’s larger than life portrait of football great Artie Beetson, her uncle. Maroon text has been used to define the features of ‘Big Artie’s’ face. The stories familiar to the Beetson family are retold to create a picture of life as an Aboriginal Rugby League player on and off the paddock. Of a similar personal nature are Jennifer Herd’s photographs of a young Murri woman shaping up to the viewer. She is shown ready and willing to fight for equality. Herd recalls feeling that boxing matches made a spectacle of Aboriginal athletes, but the Warrior Woman in these three photographs asserts her strength and pride as she steps forward to engage the viewer.

Addressing the issue of racism in sport is not a new development in Australian art, particularly among Aboriginal artists. A few members of proppaNOW have even tackled the topic in their work prior to collaborating on The Black See exhibition. But through the re-use of highly offensive language in this show the collective has presented a harsh account of an ugly reality, if only to a limited audience.

Dale Harding

Gordon Hookey, The black c (triptych), 2011