First presented at University of Queensland Art Museum, this touring exhibition from Museums and Galleries NSW, brought together politically charged works by acclaimed First Nations artists from the Meanjin/Brisbane based artist collective proppaNOW.
In early 2005, proppaNOW launched a Press Release for immediate distribution via email, which was sent out to cultural institutions in so-called Australia. The press release titled ‘We have a dream’ is a collectivist call to arms, in the style of American Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr’s famous speech “I have a dream,” which he delivered in 1963 for the March for Jobs and Freedom on Washington. The Press Release outlines the hopes for the Australian art world and its institutions to support and celebrate both urban and rural Aboriginal artists by implementing autonomous Aboriginal Art Departments who hold their own separate acquisition budgets. The Release called for equity in positions held by Aboriginal staff so that remuneration and support is equal and permanent to those of the non-Indigenous staff members. Among other ‘dreams’ that they outline, many of the demands, while provocative in 2005 have not been realised to date.
Established in 2003, proppaNOW is one of Australia’s leading cultural collectives, exploring the politics of Aboriginal art and culture, and provoking, subverting and re-thinking what it means to be a ‘contemporary Aboriginal artist’. Conceived as a collaborative activist gesture, OCCURRENT AFFAIR addressed socio-political, economic and environmental issues, while celebrating the strength, resilience and continuity of Aboriginal culture.
Featuring artists; Vernon Ah Kee, Tony Albert, Richard Bell, Megan Cope, Jennifer Herd, Gordon Hookey and Laurie Nilsen.
Exhibition: 10 February – 16 April 2023
Supported By: A Perth Festival event supported by Visual Arts Program Partner Wesfarmers Arts, and Lotterywest
Partners: The University of Queensland Art Museum touring with Museums & Galleries of NSW. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. This project is assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program
Presented as part of Perth Festival 2023, a celebration of the John Curtin Gallery’s 25-year partnership with Perth Festival, However vast the darkness… brings together a vivid and compelling season of three interconnected projects offering deep reflection and forceful protest of the inequities suffered by peoples across the globe. It features two major installations by Afghani artist Aziz Hazara, Aotearoa/New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana and Meanjin/Brisbane Aboriginal art collective proppaNOW. Together these artists champion truth-telling as the way to illuminate a path through the darkness of profound geopolitical tension and enduring oppression.
Header Image: Laurie Nilsen, Dollar Dilemma Flag, 2020, digital print on textile. Installation view, OCCURRENT AFFAIR, UQ Art Museum, 2021. Reproduced courtesy of the artist estate and FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane.
