Vernon Ah Kee

VERNON AH KEE was born in North Queensland and is of the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidindji and Gugu Yimithirr peoples. He has been living in Brisbane for over twelve years. His art is primarily a critique of Australian popular culture, specifically the Black/White dichotomy. Over five years he has tailored text as the visual. Humour, biting and black, aerates the slogans which otherwise might miss their target in the Australian audience and rebound on the artist in an angry and depressing squalor. As it is, the signs are profoundly beautiful, pithy and poetic, while hitting hard…

If you as a white man wish to insert yourself into the black man’s world, with his history, in his colour, and on the level at which you currently perceive him, then know that you will never be anything more than mediocre. You will not be able to involve yourself in the decision-making processes of this land, and you will not have any constructive access to the social and political mechanisms of this land. At times this land will shake your understanding of the world, and confusion will eat away at your sense of humanity, but at least you will feel normal.’

Ah Kee’s profile has now attracted international attention with his 2008 series Gaze, which comprises of 12 charcoal drawn portraits on large scale canvasses, selected for inclusion in "Revolution – Forms That Turn", the 2008 Biennale of Sydney.

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