Vernon Ah Kee

The Deane Gallery hosts Vernon Ah Kee’s first solo exhibition in New Zealand. Ah Kee is renowned for his text-based work and large format charcoal and crayon portraits of Aboriginal subjects, which insert a much needed indigenous presence into contemporary Australian art.

Ah Kee’s practice interrogates racism in Australia, and the lack of empathy for its indigenous communities. His larger than life portraits empower the Aboriginal ‘other’, and his text-based work uses parody, poetry and portmanteau to probe the gaps and misunderstandings between cultures. This exhibition also has a series of surfboards decorated with portraits and Yidindji war shield patterns. Here Ah Kee relocates these cultural tensions to the beach. He recasts this symbol of Australia’s bounty as a troubled site of contact, conflict, and, more recently, race-based riots.

This project is a part of the larger roundabout° exhibition. Like roundabout°, the Deane Gallery recognises that while Ah Kee’s art is grounded in specific Australian issues and histories, its implications extend across borders and cultures.

Event listed by City Gallery Wellington

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