proppaNOW

BPH_proppaNOWPresented by Australia Council for the Arts and Brisbane Powerhouse as a special exhibition for World Theatre Festival (WTF) and the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) 2014, the works of the proppaNOW arts collective will reverberate throughout the venue precinct at Brisbane Powerhouse from now until 24 February.

proppaNOW are a provocative and challenging collective of Queensland Aboriginal artists who currently reside or have lived in Brisbane. Together, they create a platform for contemporary urban Aboriginal artists, offering new perspectives on how we, as a society, define ‘Aboriginal’ art.

They have been fundamentally important to contemporary Indigenous visual arts in Brisbane and Australia and their inclusion within APAM 2014 provides the perfect context to showcase their collaborations. Artists featured in proppaNOW include: Richard Bell, Laurie Nilsen, Gordon Hookey, Jennifer Herd, Vernon Ah Kee, Tony Albert and Megan Cope.

Curated by Jody Haines and Merindah Donnelly, this exhibition explores each member’s worldview, in a space combining art, performance and dialogue. An innovative collaboration of mediums turn the artists’ works into performers themselves, inferred as “circus” or performance art by art historian Djon Mundine OAM in his essay for the exhibition.

Ms Donnelly said, “The impetus for curating this exhibition comes from my view that audiences should be exposed to the broadest spectrum of Aboriginal identity in the 21st Century. In particular proppaNOW’s work focuses on lived experiences from the east coast.”

“The inclusion of the proppaNOW exhibition within the Australian Performing Arts Market provides the perfect context to showcase collaboration by these internationally acclaimed artists from Brisbane.”

APAM has an impressive line-up of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait island artists showcasing and pitching their work and featuring in panels with their national and international peers. The work of Vernon Ah Kee from proppaNOW also features in Brisbane Powerhouse’s WTF14 program as design of the superb solo dance piece Gudirr Gudirr, showcasing the work of Dalisa Pigram from Marrugeku.

proppaNOW
Brisbane Powerhouse, 119 Lamington Street, New Farm
Exhibition continues to 24 February 2014
Free entry

For more information, visit: www.brisbanepowerhouse.org for details.

Image: courtesy of Brisbane Powerhouse