Bonhams 1793 : Vernon Ah Kee (born 1967) Austracism

PROVENANCE:
Executed in 2003
Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane
Private collection

EXHIBITED:
Edition 1 and 2 of this work have been exhibited variously in:
Feedback: Art, Social Consciousness, and Resistance, Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne, March 18 May 10, 2003.
This Is Not America, Dusseldorf, Germany, June 27 July 23, 2003; Queensland Contemporary Art Gallery, Brisbane, February 6 March 28, 2004
Spirit & Vision: Aboriginal Art, Sammlung Essl Kunsthaus, Klosternburg, Austria. April 2 August 29, 2004.
Art Urbain du Pacific: Diff' Art Pacific, The Castle of St-Auvent, Saint Auvent, France, August 6 September 10, 2005
New 2010: Selected recent acquisitions, University of Queensland Art Museum, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 11 December, 2010 - 20 February, 2011

LITERATURE:
Susan McCulloch and Emily McCulloch Childs, McCulloch's Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Complete Guide, Fitzroy, Victoria: McCulloch & McCulloch Australian Art Books, 2008, p.256 (illus.).
Franchesca Cubillo and Wally Caruana (eds.), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: Collection Highlights, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2010, p.227.

After graduating from Queensland College of the Arts in 2000, Ah Kee has featured in over forty major group shows nationally and internationally. Most notably, the National Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors in 2007, Sydney Biennale in 2008 and the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009.

In the recently published edition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: Collection Highlights, Tina Baum states: 'Vernon Ah Kee belongs to a new wave of young politically motivated artists...Ah Kee's arresting, bold and innovative arrangement of letters and words reveal an underlying racial tension present in the written language...Meaning and context are often changed, in effect turning them back onto themselves to reveal indigenous perspective...' (ibid, p.227).

This edition of Austracism is the only one not held in a public collection. One example can be found in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and the other at The University of Queensland, Brisbane.