Artists

Tony Albert

Tony Albert is a Brisbane-based artist, who was born in North Queensland. His family comes from Cardwell, situated in the rainforest area of the far north. In 2004 Tony completed a degree in Visual Arts majoring in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art. Provoked by the stereotypical representations of Indigenous Australians in mainstream culture, Tony's paradoxical wordplay examines cultural alienation and displacement. In his latest work, he takes on the persona of a Rap Gangsta, 50perCENT and features other Aboriginal superstars such as the NOTORIOUS B.E.L.L and Lil'Gin.

Vernon Ah Kee

Born and raised in North Queensland and based in Brisbane, Vernon Ah Kee is Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidindji, Gugu Yimithirr and Koko Berrin. With conceptualist text works anchored in minimal expression and drawings nuanced with a refined technical sense, Vernon underpins his critique of Australian popular culture with assertion that the Aboriginal condition is more the result of White Australian construction and machination than it is of Aboriginal invention.

Bianca Beetson

Bianca is a Kabi Kabi woman, Born in Roma Western Qld. Studied a Bachelor of Art Visual Arts (Honours) at the Qld University of Technology. Bianca's work is usually pink, with the occasional variation of Hue or Medium, which has become the signature for her work. It is not just the colour pink alone that makes her work so unique, but rather her use of Humour and satire to critique issues of importance. Bianca's work is concerned with her identity as an Aboriginal, the commodification of Aboriginal Culture; the demarcation of Art, Artifact and Kitsch; critique of the social and cultural structures; and the critique of the 'beauty' and the 'feminine'. Blended with references to the work of twentieth century artists such as Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Lin Onus, Rover Thomas, Richard Bell and Andy Warhol.

Richard Bell

Richard is Kamilaroi, Ji'man, Kooma and Goreng Goreng. With more than 20 years of incendiary production behind him the 'infant terrib' of Australian Art is never lost for words or wit. After a recent survey at IMA Brisbane Richard is renewed with newfound vigour and with There Goes the Neighbourhood, he embarks on his latest foray into video augmenting his already energy-filled palette with new and colourful invective.

Andrea Fisher

Born and based in Brisbane, Andrea is Birri-Gubba, Wakka Wakka and Goreng Goreng. Although specialising in jewellery, Andrea is primarily a visual 3D artist interested in applying a sense of Aboriginal history to the materials and aesthetic of jewellery making, sculpture and installation. Andrea studied Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. 'I enjoyed the diversity, flexibility and 'proppa' ways of learning Indigenous Australian art through a Blak forum'. Andrea's work has been exhibited at numerous galleries including the Queensland Art Gallery and Craft Queensland. In her latest works, she explores the use of text and deals primarily with the notion of 'framing' and 'reflection'.

Jennifer Herd

Jennifer is a proud Mbarbarrum woman whose family roots lie in far North Queensland. With strong feelings about the way in which Aboriginal people have been treated in this country, Jennifer's work is about her experiences as an Aboriginal person and about making known the untold history of our people in Australia.

Having worked in the theatre and fashion industry for 12 years before moving into the field of Indigenous education in the late 1980s, in recent years, Jennifer has made the shift from costume to installation, painting and sculpture. Her interests are now mainly concerned with Aboriginal Art and Issues, copyright and intellectual property and Aboriginal art education.

Gordon Hookey

Born in North Queensland, Gordon Hookey is Waanji. Visually, Gordon's work has taken in a wide variety of medium and technique. He is widely travelled having exhibited and undertaken residencies in several countries and demonstrated pictorial and lyrical narratives encompassing drawing, printmaking, installation and painting.

Laurie Nilsen

Laurie Nilsen was born in Roma 1953. He moved to Brisbane in the late 1960s to become a jockey. After finishing his apprenticeship at the age of 21, Laurie completed a three year certificate course in commercial illustration at the Queensland College of Art. In 1989-99 he graduated from the Gippsland Institution (VIC) with a BA in Fine Arts, majoring in sculpture. Laurie's political works featuring barbed wire as a medium encompass cultural, political and environmental concerns. Although most of his work tackles issues of concern Aboriginal people he knows some of these concerns overlay and effect non-Aboriginal people also.