proppaNOW is an arts collective for Indigenous Australian artists in Queensland. Aiming to counter cultural stereotypes and give a voice to urban artists, the collective has mounted several exhibitions around the country. The collective was founded by Richard Bell, Jennifer Herd and Vernon Ah Kee in 2003 and formalised in 2004.
The collective was first conceived in Brisbane in 1997. [1] At its initial meeting, proppaNOW proposed to form as a group of Aboriginal Australian artists who would support each other's work and "change ideas that people had about what Aboriginal art is and what it should be". [2] The trigger to formalise the collective came in March 2004 soon after Queensland's Premier, Peter Beattie, established QIAMEA (Queensland Indigenous Artists Marketing Export Agency) to promote and market Queensland Indigenous art. The artists were concerned that QIAMEA's focus was initially directed towards the remote regions of Queensland such as Mornington Island, Aurukun and Lockhart River, thus reinforcing cultural stereotypes. [1]
The collective has since evolved a mission to "give urban-based Aboriginal artists a voice...[to] reinforce that Aboriginal Australia is a living culture that has evolved over time". [1]
In June 2019, proppaNOW presented an open day at the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane. [3]
An exhibition entitled OCCURRENT AFFAIR: proppaNOW was originally scheduled for 2019, but was rescheduled (due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia) to run 13 February – 19 June 2021 at the University of Queensland Art Museum, described as a major exhibition of the artists' work "after a five-year hiatus to focus on their individual careers". The title of the exhibition references the Australian TV show A Current Affair , which is known for its sensationalist style and "derogatory representations of certain low socio-economic and minority groups". [4] [5] [6]
Founding members were Richard Bell, Jennifer Herd, Joshua Herd and Vernon Ah Kee. [2]
Members of the collective as of February 2020 [update] are Bell, Herd, Ah Kee, Tony Albert, Gordon Hookey, Laurie Nilsen and Megan Cope. [4]
proppaNOW members Richard Bell, Jennifer Herd, Vernon Ah Kee, Gordon Hookey and Laurie Nilsen have all been interviewed by the State Library of Queensland for the James C. Sourris AM Collection. In the interviews each artist talks about their life, their art and their inspirations. [7]
In October 2022 it was announced that the collective had won the Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice for 2022–2024, by a unanimous decision of the jury, which commented: "...[proppaNOW] has broken with expectations of what is proper ('proppa') in Aboriginal art; created a new sovereign space for First Nations artists internationally outside colonial stereotypes, desires for authenticity, and capitalist capitulations; and opened new political imaginaries". [8]
The collective has mounted a number of exhibitions, starting with one in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2005. Since then, many have been based in Queensland, but several have toured the country or mounted in other locations. Some recent exhibitions include: [6]
Fiona Foley is a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist from K'gari, Queensland. Foley is known for her activity as an academic, cultural and community leader and for co-founding the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative.
Gordon Hookey is an Australian aboriginal artist from the Waanyi people. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (1992) and lives in Brisbane, Australia. He is primarily known as a painter but his practice also involves sculpture, installation, drawing, photography, and to a lesser extent, animation.
The Kuku Yalanji, also known as Gugu-Yalanji, Kuku Yalandji or Kokojelandji, are an Aboriginal Australian people originating from the rainforest regions of Far North Queensland.
Richard Bell is an Aboriginal Australian artist and political activist. He is one of the founders of proppaNOW, a Brisbane-based Aboriginal art collective.
Michael Eather is a contemporary Australian artist based in Brisbane, who helped found the Campfire Group, a significant cross-cultural artistic collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.
The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia houses one of the finest Indigenous Australian art collections in the world, rivaling many of the collections held in Australia. It is the only museum outside Australia dedicated solely to Indigenous Australian art. The museum houses many important breakthrough paintings of the Papunya Tula movement and Arnhem Land artists. The collection comprises more than 2000 objects in a variety of media, including bark and acrylic paintings, sculpture, photography, prints and artifacts. The director of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection is anthropologist Margo Smith.
Lawrence Daws is an Australian painter and printmaker, who works in the media of oil, watercolour, drawing, screenprints, etchings and monotypes.
Campbelltown Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre located in Campbelltown, New South Wales, south west of Sydney, Australia. It is a cultural facility of Campbelltown City Council, assisted by other government funding and private sponsorships.
Bronwyn Bancroft is an Aboriginal Australian artist, administrator, book illustrator, and among the first three Australian fashion designers to show their work in Paris. She was born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, and trained in Canberra and Sydney.
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair is an arts and cultural event in the northern Australian city of Cairns, that showcases art by Contemporary Indigenous Australian artists. Established in 2009, the art fair is the opening event of the Cairns Festival.
Tony Albert is a contemporary Australian artist working in a wide range of mediums including painting, photography and mixed media. His work engages with political, historical and cultural Aboriginal and Australian history, and his fascination with kitsch “Aboriginalia".
Judy Watson is an Australian Waanyi multi-media artist who works in print-making, painting, video and installation. Her work often examines Indigenous Australian histories, and she has received a number of high-profile commissions for public spaces.
Jordan Bennett is a multi-disciplinary artist of Mi'kmaq descent from Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland, also known as Ktaqamkuk. He is married to Métis visual artist Amy Malbeuf.
Jennifer Herd is an Australian Indigenous artist with family ties to the Mbar-barrum people of North Queensland. She is a founding member of the ProppaNOW artist collective, and taught at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, where she convened both the Bachelor of Fine Art and Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art. In 2003 she won the Queensland College of Art Graduate Students prize, the Theiss Art Prize, for her Masters of Visual Arts.
Jaimie Isaac is a Winnipeg-based Anishinaabe artist and curator.
Carol McGregor is an Indigenous Australian artist of Wathaurung (Victoria) and Scottish descent, internationally known for her multi media installation pieces bringing together ephemeral natural fibres, metal, and paper. She is also deeply engaged in the creation of and cultural reconnection to possum skin cloaks, a traditional form of dress and important biographical cultural item.
Megan Cope is an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Quandamooka people of Stradbroke Island/Minjerribah. She is known for her sculptural installations, video art and paintings, in which she explores themes such as identity and colonialism. Cope is a member of the contemporary Indigenous art collective ProppaNOW in Brisbane.
Vernon Ah Kee is a contemporary Australian artist, political activist and founding member of ProppaNOW. Based primarily in Brisbane, Queensland, Ah Kee is an Aboriginal Australian man with ties to the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji and Gugu Yimithirr peoples in Queensland. His art practice typically focuses on his Aboriginal Australian identity and place within a modern Australian framework, and is concerned with themes of skin, skin colour, race, privilege and racism. Ah Kee has exhibited his art at numerous galleries across Australia, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and has also exhibited internationally, most notably representing Australia at the 2009 Venice Biennale and the 2015 Istanbul Biennial.
Madonna Pearl Staunton was an artist and poet who lived in Brisbane. She is known for her works on Australian Modernism.
Michael Cook is an Aboriginal Australian photographic artist of Bidjara heritage, whose work is held in major Australian galleries. He strives to promote understanding of Indigenous Australian culture and history in his work, and is the winner of two Deadly Awards.