self portrait (the artist as a modern day Aborigine), 2007
Charcoal, crayon, acrylic on canvas
180 x 240 cm

artist profile

Vernon Ah Kee

born

1967

lives and works

Brisbane, Australia

education

BFA in Contemporary Indigenous Australian Art, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, 1998
BFA in Fine Art, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, 2000
DFA, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, 2007

about the artist

Vernon Ah Kee draws, video-edits, and paints pieces that together present unapologetic testimonials, or rather, earnest sentiments of protest on rampant inequalities suffered by Aboriginal communities in his native Australia. Using charcoal, pastel, acrylic, and crayon, he renders in intricate detail portraits of individual lives that have touched his—on a scale and in a manner that are at the same time imposing and stunning. Ah Kee’s voice is an extremely important one, whether in a local context of Australian politics or extending into the universally deep-rooted institution of racial discrimination; he is tireless and unabashed in his endeavors to rectify public perception of who Aborigines are and what Aboriginal art is. Remarkably active in the Australian arts circle, Ah Kee has participated in multiple exhibitions held at all major museums in the region. He is also a member of the collective proppaNOW, conceived by artists based in Brisbane, Queensland, to subvert exoticized stereotypes of Aboriginal art and artists. Showing regularly abroad, he was invited to represent Australia at the 53rd edition of the Venice Biennale.

  • Selected exhibition history
  • Permanent collections
  • Projects
  • Editions
  • Publications
  • Recent news

2012GROUP National Indigenous Art Triennial: Disclosed, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia

2011GROUP Roundabout, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel

SOLO Tall Man, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia

2010GROUP Roundabout, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand

SOLO Vernon Ah Kee, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand

2009GROUP Avoiding myth & message: Australian artists & the literary world, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia

GROUP Once Removed, ludateca, Castello, 53rd Venice Biennale, Italy

SOLO talkwalktalk, Mackenzie Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

2008GROUP Revolutions: Forms That Turn - 2008 Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

SOLO belief suspension, Artspace, Sydney, Australia

2007SOLO cant chant, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

GROUP National Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

2006GROUP Radical Regionalism: The Empire of Shadows, Museum London, Ontario, Canada

2005SOLO mythunderstanding, The Contemporary Arts Centre of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

2004GROUP Cultural Copy: Visual Conversations on Indigenous Art and Cultural Appropriation, The Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

GROUP ART TV 2004: Australian Culture Now, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia

2003SOLO consent, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

2002GROUP Transit Narratives, Centro per la Arti Visive LE VENEZIE, Treviso, Italy; Auronzo di Cadore, Salone espositivo-Municipio; QCA Gallery, Brisbane, Australia; Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia; Tasmanian School of Art, Hobart, Australia

Art Bank, Sydney 


Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA


Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria, Australia 


Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada


National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, Australia 


Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia

University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia 


University of Technology Sydney, Australia