Vernon Ah Kee’s conceptual text pieces, videos, photographs and drawings form a critique of Australian culture from the perspective of the Aboriginal experience of contemporary life. Ah Kee’s works respond to the history of the romantic and exoticised portraiture of ‘primitives’, and effectively reposition the Aboriginal in Australia from an ‘othered thing’, anchored in museum and scientific records to a contemporary people inhabiting real and current spaces and time.
Vernon Ah Kee
Ah Kee’s work has been featured in a number of significant national and international exhibitions, including 'Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia,' Auckland Art Gallery (2023), 'ESPRESSIONI CON FRAZIONI,' Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy (2022); 'A Year in Art Australia 1992,' TATE Modern, London, United Kingdom (2021); 'Australia, Antipodean Stories,' Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Italy (2019); 'cantchant,' The Art Gallery of Alberta, Alberta, Canada (2019); 'will i live,' Apartment der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2017); ‘Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia’, Harvard Art Museums (2016); Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art’, National Gallery of Canada (2013); ‘unDisclosed’: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial’, National Gallery of Australia (2012); 'Waru,' Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (2010); ‘Revolutions: Forms that turn’, the 16th Biennale of Sydney (2008); ‘Once Removed’, Australian Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2009). In 2015, Ah Kee was invited by curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev to present a new body of work as part of ‘SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms’, the 14th Istanbul Biennial and participated in a series of significant public programs as part of the opening weekend of the exhibition.
Born 1967 in Innisfail, North Queensland, Australia. Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia.
Education
2001-07
- Doctorate of Visual Arts (Fine Art), Queensland College of Art
1999-00
- Bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours (Fine Art), Queensland College of Art
1996-98
- Bachelor of Visual Arts, Contemporary Indigenous Australian Art, Queensland College of Art
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
- way to be, Northsite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, Queensland
2021
- nothing important happened today, Spring Hill Reservoir with Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2020
- Vernon Ah Kee: The Island, Campbelltown Arts Centre, New South Wales
2019
- shadow light, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
- cantchant, Art Gallery of Alberta, Alberta, Canada
2017
- Ode, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- Will I Live, Apartment der Kunst, Munich, Germany
- Not a plant or an animal, National Art School Gallery, Sydney
2016-17
- Not an Animal or a Plant, National Art School, Sydney, New South Wales
2014
- Brutalities, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2013
- Invasion Paintings, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2012
- Hallmarks of the Hungry, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2011
- Tall Man, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Victoria
- Bad Sign, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2010
- Tall Man, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- Vernon Ah Kee, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
- Waru, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia; Kick Arts, Contemporary Arts, Cairns, Queensland
- Blow your house in, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada
- becauseitisbitter, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2008
- belief suspension, Artspace, Sydney, New South Wales
- Borninthiskin, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2007
- cant chant, Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland
- unwritten, Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
- conText, Postgraduate Assessment Exhibition, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane, Queensland
- Drawings, Brisbane State High School, Brisbane, Queensland
2006
- not an animal or a plant, Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2005
- you must hit, Bellas MIlani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- mythunderstanding, The Contemporary Arts Centre of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia
2004
- fantasies of the good, Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2003
- consent, Gallery 1, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
2002
- non-People, Bellas Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2001
- whitefella normal blackfella me, Postgraduate Exhibition, Queensland College of Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
2000
- The Which Way, Queensland College of Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
1999
- If I was White, Metro Arts Building, Brisbane, Queensland
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
- I, Object, Artspace Mackay
- Home 25 – Invisible Cities, Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Garden, Dandenong
- Our Story: Aboriginal Chinese People in Australia, National Museum of Australia, Canberra
- Unfolding: First Nations Works on Paper, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington VIC
- OCCURRENT AFFAIR: proppaNOW, Touring exhibition with UQAM and MGNSW 2021-2025, Lismore Regional Gallery, NSW; Artspace Mackay, QLD; USC Gallery, University of the Sunshine Coast, QLD; Gosford Regional Gallery, NSW; Ngununggula | Southern Highlands Regional Gallery, NSW; NAS Galleries, National Arts School, NSW; John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, WA, University of Queensland Art Museum, QLD
2024
- Marks are Memories: Selected Indigenous works from the Moule Collection, New England Regional Art Museum, NSW
- ARTIST ACTIVIST ARCHIVIST: BERNHARD LÜTHI INVITES, Foundation Opale, Switzerland
2023-24
- Giyawarra-nanha Gulbalanha / Disturbing The Peace, Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA)
- Death, Love, Art, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, NSW
2023
- ARTIST POET POEISIS, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
- Meet the artists, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
- proppaNOW: There Goes the Neighbourhood!, Vera List Center, New York City
- Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki
2022-23
- Courage and Beauty: The James C. Sourris AM Collection, QAGOMA, Brisbane
2022
- ESPRESSIONI CON FRAZIONI / FRACTIONAL EXPRESSIONS, Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy
- Faceless: Transforming Identity, Cairns Art Gallery
- This language that is every stone, Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane
2021-22
- Deadly Threads, Carins Art Gallery
2021
- A Year in Art: Australia 1992, TATE Modern, London, United Kingdom
- We Change the World, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
- The National 2021: New Australian Art, Carraigeworks, Sydney
- OCCURENT AFFAIR: proppaNOW, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
- Art Mixtape, HOTA on the Gold Coast, Queensland
2020-21
- Welcome to Colour Television, QAGOMA
2020
- First, Redcliffe Art Gallery, Redcliffe
- Faces of Brisbane, Museum of Brisbane
- The TERRA Within, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, NSW
- MPRG: Fifty, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
2019-20
- Australia. Antipodean Stories, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea (PAC), Italy
2019
- Body Language, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- I, Object, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
- Hope Dies Last: Art at the End of Optimism, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne
- Connecting Narratives, Cairns Art Gallery
- Violent Salt, Artspace Mackay
- Cicada Press, Megalo Gallery, Kingston
2018
- 2018 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Divided Worlds, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
- Riots: Slow Cancellation of the Future, ifa-Galerie, Berlin
- Playback, Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Hunter Red: Corpus, Newcastle Gallery, Newcastle
- Boundary Lines, Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- Good Manners, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
2017
- A Change Is Gonna Come, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, ACT
- Australian Collection, Permanent Hang, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
- BOARD: Surf and Skate Cultures Meet Contemporary Art, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Lake Macquarie, NSW
- Everyone Has A History- Part One: Plain Speak, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
- In the future everything will be as certain as it used to be, Framer Framed, Amsterdam
2016
- Sugar Spin: You, me, art and everything, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
- Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia, Harvard Art Museums, MA
- With Secrecy and Despatch, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, NSW
- Frontier Imaginaries, Institute of Modern Art and QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, QLD
- Black,White & Restive, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW
- Endless Circulation: Tarrawarra Biennial, TarraWarra Museum of Art, VIC
- Over the Fence, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, QLD
- On the Origin of Art, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobert, TAS
- Shut Up and Paint, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC
2015
- Encounters, National Museum Australia, Canberra, ACT
- Propositions Three, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
- When Silence Falls, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Brutal Truths, Griffith University Art Gallery, South Bank, Brisbane
- The 14th Istanbul Biennial SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms, Istanbul, Turkey
- GOMA Q, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
- Imaginary Accord, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
- Blackout, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales
- See You at the Barricades, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales
2014
- Saltwater Country, Gold Coast City Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland
- Subject to Ruin, Casula Power House, Casula, New South Wales
- Four Rooms, Adelaide Festival, Adelaide, South Australia
2013
- My Country: I Still Call Australia Home, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
- Voice and Reason, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
- Sakahan: 1st International Quinquennial of New Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada, Canada
- Shadowlife, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria
2012-13
- The Future’s Not What it Used to Be, touring Chapter Gallery, Cardiff, Wales; Newlyn Art Gallery and Exchange, Cornwall, England
- Making Change: Celebrating the 40 Years of Australia-China Diplomatic Relations, touring: NAMOC, Beijing; COFA, Sydney, New South Wales
2012
- Everything Falls Apart, Artspace, Sydney, New South Wales
- Propositions Part 2, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- Negotiating this World: Contemporary Australian Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria
- unDisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2011-12
- Ten Years of Contemporary Art: The James Sourris Collection, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
2011
- Barack Commissions. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria
- The Black Sea. Kickarts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, Queensland
- Counting Coup, Museum of Contemporary Native Art, New Mexico, USA
- Evolving Identities: Contemporary Indigenous Art, John Curtain Gallery, Perth, Western Australia.
- Erased: Contemporary Australian Drawing, Asialink International touring exhibition: Nanwang Academy of Fine Arts Gallery (NAFA), Singapore; PSG Art Gallery, Silpakorn University, Bangkok; Chiang Mai University Faculty of Fine Art Gallery, Chiang Mai; Khon Kaen University Art Gallery, Thailand; National Art School Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Touring 2009-11.
2010
- roundabout. Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand.
- Basil Sellers Art Prize, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne University, Victoria
- National Works on Paper Award, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
- Jus’ Drawn, Linden Contemporary Arts Centre, Melbourne, Victoria
- PUTSCH proppaNOW, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, South Australia.
2009
- Once Removed, 53rd Venice Biennale of Art, Venice, Italy
- Terra Nullius: Contemporary Art from Australia, ACC Galerie, Weimar, Germany
- I walk the line: new Australian drawing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, New South Wales
- Avoiding myth and message: Australian artists & the literary world, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, New South Wales
2008
- Revolutions: Forms that Turn, 2008 Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales
- In the space of elsewhere, Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University, London
- New Millennium, Lismore Regional Gallery, Lismore, New South Wales
- On Paper, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- Optimism, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
2007
- Power & Beauty: Indigenous Art Now, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Victoria
- Regionalisms, University of Queensland Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland
- National Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors, National Gallery of Art, Canberra, ACT
- The Amersham Trophy, Ambleside Street Studio, West End, Brisbane, Queensland
- Sunshine State, Smart State, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown, Sydney, New South Wales
- Friendly Fire, ProppaNOW Group, George Petelin Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland
- Thresholds of Tolerance, School of Art Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
- Raised by Wolves, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia
2006
- Yours, Mine, Ours: The ABC of Everything, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, New South Wales
- There Goes the Neighbourhood, Ambleside Street Studio, Brisbane, Queensland
- Colonial to Contemporary, Dell Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland
- The Sixth Drawing Biennale, The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
- MCA Collection: New Acquisitions 2006, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, New South Wales
- Radical Regionalism: The Empire of Shadows, Museum of London, London; Ontario, Canada
- Queensland Live, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Touring: Gladstone, Logan, Bundaberg, Cairns, Ipswich, Cleveland, Mackay, Toowoomba, Queensland. Touring 2007-08
- Dancelines, George Adams Gallery, The Arts Centre, Melbourne, Victoria
2005
- ARC Art, Design & Craft Biennial, Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane, Queensland
- Thick and Fast, The Powerhouse, Brisbane, Queensland
- Art Urbain du Pacific, Diff’ Art Pacific, The Castle of St-Auvent, Saint Auvent, France
- The Grey Voice, Tin Sheds Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales
- Untitled, The Lane Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
- Face Value: Video portraiture from the Pacific, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales; Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland
2004
- skin, Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tasmania
- Cultural Copy: Visual Conversations on Indigenous Art and Cultural Appropriation, The Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
- blak insights: Contemporary Indigenous Art from the Queensland Art Gallery, Collection, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- ART TV 2004: Australian Culture Now, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Victoria
- Spirit and Vision: Aboriginal Art, Sammlung Essl—Kunsthaus, Klosternburg, Austria
2003
- Places That Name Us, RAKA Award: Contemporary Indigenous Visual Arts #3, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Victoria
- 1 Square Mile, Brisbane Boundaries, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- Abstractions, The Drill Hall, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
- This Is Not America, Dusseldorf, Germany; Queensland College of the Arts Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
- 4 x 4, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
- 5 White Cubes, Forum Kunst Art Residency, Rottweil, Germany
- Feedback: Art, Social Consciousness and Resistance, Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria
2002
- Transit Narratives, Centro per la Arti Visive LE VENEZIE, Treviso, Italy; Auronzo di Cadore, Salone espositivo. Touring 2002-03
- Municipio, Queensland College of the Arts Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland; Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Victoria; Tasmanian School of Art, Hobart, Tasmania
Awards and Prizes
2014
- 15 Artists Prize, 2014, Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Queensland
- Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize
2012
- Finalist, Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Collections
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Artbank, Sydney
University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
University of Technology, Sydney
Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
Gold Coast City Gallery, Queensland
Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania
Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
David Teplitzky and Peggy Scott Collection, Hong Kong
Kluge-ruhe Collection, University of Virginia, USA
Bibliography
2024
- Deverell, G.W. ‘The Poor Bugger Has Suffered Enough’: Vernon Ah Kee, Warwick Thornton, and the Unmaking of a White Jesus. In: Kolia, B.F., Mawson, M. (eds) Unsettling Theologies. Postcolonialism and Religions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
2023
- Green, Michelle, and Hans Maes. “From Model to Sitter: On Reclaiming Colonial Photography”. Aesthetic Investigations 6 (2): 158-73.
2022
- McIntyre, Sophie. nothing important happened today: An Interview with Vernon Ah Kee. Pacific Arts Vol. 22 No. 2.
2021
- Vaughan, Priya. Artists and legal documents; Aesthetic, witnessing and affective power. In Biber, Katherine eds. Law's documents. Routledge, London.
2020
- Reich, Hannah. Refugee and Indigenous Australian experiences drawn together in exhibition by artist Vernon Ah Kee. ABC News
2017
- Castro, Jason, and Beata Batorowicz. Critical images, critical voices: The artwork of vernon ah kee. Australian Art Education. Vol 38 No 2.
2016
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Gilchrist, Stephen, editor. Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia. Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 2016.
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Gordon, Craig, and Ryan Presley. Over the Fence: Contemporary Indigenous Photography from the Corrigan Collection. University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2016, pp.40–51.
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McLean, Ian. Rattling Spears: A History of Indigenous Australian Art. Reaktion Books Ltd, 2016, pp.237–240.
2014
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Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn. Saltwater: A Theory of Thought Forms. Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, 2014.
2013
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Browning, Daniel. “Let’s be polite about Aboriginal Art”. Artlink, vol.33, no.2, June 2013, pp.42–45.
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Garneau, David. Toward Indigenous Criticism: The Ah Kee Paradox, Artlink, vol.33, no.2, 2013, pp.44–49.
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My Country, I Still Call Australia Home, ABC Radio National, 2013.
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Sakahan: International Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada, 2013, pp.142–143.
2012
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Ah Kee, Vernon. “There goes the Neighbourhood – It is in the Language.” In Volume One: MCA Collection, edited by Ewen McDonald, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2012, pp.42–47.
2011
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Creyton, Sam. The Black See. KickArts Contemporary Arts: Cairns, 2011.
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Duff, Alisa. “Tall Man by Vernon Ah Kee”. Art Monthly Australia, no.239, May 2011, pp.5–6.
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Moreton-Robinson, Aileen M. Bodies that matter: performing white possession on the beach. USLA American Indian Studies Center, 2011.
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Vernon Ah Kee: Tall Man, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, 2011.
2010
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Browning, Daniel. “Not black enough: the politics of skin”. Artlink, vol.30, no.1, March 2010, pp.22–27.
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Jones, Gary. “Vernon Ah Kee: Sovereign Warrior”. Artlink, vol.30, no.1, March 2010, pp.44–51.
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LaVallee, Michelle. Blow your house in: Vernon Ah Kee, MacKenzie Art Gallery: Regina Sask, 2010.
2009
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Borninthisskin, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2009.
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Farmer, Margaret. “Regarding the moving images of Vernon Ah Kee”. Broadsheet, vol.38, no.2, June–Aug 2009, pp.112–115.
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Young, Michael. “Vernon Ah Kee, 53rd Venice Biennale participating artist”. Art and Asia Pacific, no.63, May–June 2009, pp.114–119.
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Waru: Vernon Ah Kee, KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, 2009.
2008
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Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn. 2008 Biennale of Sydney: Revolutions – Forms that Turn. Art Gallery of NSW / Thames & Hudson, 2008.
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Leonard, Robert. “Vernon Ah Kee: Rainforest Surfer”. Art and Australia, vol.45, no.4, Winter 2008, pp.640–645.
2007
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Edmundson, Anna; Neale, Margot. “Learning to be Proppa: Aboriginal Artist’s Collective, ProppaNOW”. Thresholds of Tolerance, ANU, 2007, pp.29–38.
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Quaill, Avril. “There Goes The Neighbourhood”. Brought to Light II, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2007, pp.349–352.
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Morrell, Timothy. “in black & white: text in Indigenous Queensland art”. Artlink, vol.27, no.1, Jan–March 2007, pp.33–37.
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Yours, Mine & Ours, DVD, ABC, Sydney, 2007.
2006
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Bullen, Clotilde. “Vernon Ah Kee”. Raised By Wolves, AGWA, Perth, 2006, pp.29–30.
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Destination Art, episode 1, DVD, BBC, 2006.
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Eccles, Jeremy. “Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award 2006”. Art Monthly Australia, June 2006, no.190, pp.15–17.
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Martin-Chew, Louise. “Hybrid ideas home-grown”. The Australian, June 1 2006, p.40.
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McLean, Bruce. “Vernon Ah Kee”. Queensland Live, QAG, Brisbane, 2006, pp.14–15.
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Morrell, Timothy. “Vernon Ah Kee”. Australian Art Collector, issue 35, Jan–March 2006, p.86.
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Moore, Archie. “Black Eye = Black Viewpoint: A Conversation with ProppaNOW”. Machine, vol.1 no.4, 2006, pp.2–4.
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Morrell, Timothy. Colonial to Contemporary: QCA 125 Years, Griffith Artworks, 2006, pp.108,113.
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Smith, Marita. “Vernon Ah Kee”. Dancelines, Victorian Arts Centre Trust, 2006, pp.14–17.
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Storer, Russell. MCA Collection: New Acquisitions 2006, MCA Sydney, 2006, pp.2–4.
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Storer, Russell. “MCA Collection: New Acquisitions 2006”, Art Matters, Winter 06, MCA Sydney, 2006, pp.5–7.
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The Artist’s Voice 2006, DVD, MCA Sydney, 2006.
2005
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Downes, Briony. “Cutting Skin”. Australian Art Review, issue 6, Nov 2004 – Feb 2005, p.96.
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Helmrich, Michele. “Sexy & Dangerous”. Australian Art Review, issue 6, Nov 2004 – Feb 2005, pp.86–87.
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Devenport, Rhana. “Face Value / Voicing The Silent Witness”. Face Value, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, UNSW, 2005, p.5.
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Ostling, Susan. ARC Art, Design & Craft Biennial, Brisbane City Hall, 2005.
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Morrell, Timothy. “Vernon Ah Kee”. mythunderstanding catalogue essay, CACSA, Adelaide, 2005.
2004
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Eather, Michael. “…always from the beginning.1”. Spirit & Vision, Sammlung Essl, 2004, pp.42–48.
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Gorringe, Jenny; Foley, Fiona. skin, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, July 8 – Aug 8 2004.
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Handran, Chris. “4 x 4”. Artlink, vol.23 no.3, Sept 2004, pp.83–84.
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Helmrich, Michele. “this is not america”. eyeline, no.54, Winter 2004, p.48.
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Martin-Chew, Louise. “Story Place”. art & australia, vol.41 no.3, Mar–May 2004, p.474.
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Hoffie, Pat. “blak insights”. Artlink, vol.24 no.3, Sept 2004, pp.82–83.
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Morrell, Timothy. “Vernon Ah Kee, consent”. broadsheet, vol.32 no.3, July–Sept 2004, p.32.
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Muhlberger, Emma. “one square mile: brisbane boundaries”. eyeline, no.54, Winter 2004, pp.52–53.
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Snelling, Michael. “Vernon Ah Kee”. Spirit & Vision, Sammlung Essl, 2004, pp.123–125.
2003
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Chapman, Chris. “This is Not America: Here There”. This Is Not America, June 27 – Aug 23 2003, Griffith University, QLD.
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Clayburn, Anna. “text and tablets follow the script”. Weekend Australian, May 2–3 2003, p.21.
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Day, Charlotte. Feedback: Art, Social Consciousness and Resistance, Monash University Art Museum, Mar–May 2003.
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Nelson, Robert. “Struggling to do political art well”. The Age, April 2 2003.
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Snelling, Michael. consent, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, June 12 – July 19 2003.
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Quaill, Avril. “Vernon Ah Kee”. Story Place, QAG, 2003, pp.174–175.
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Helmrich, Michele; Bell, Richard. 1 square mile: brisbane boundaries, Museum of Brisbane, Oct 2003.
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Martin-Chew, Louise. “The Artists”. Artlink, vol.23 no.2, June 2003, pp.59–60.
2002
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Croft, Brenda. “No Need Looking”. Photofile, no.66, Sept 2002, pp.24–29.
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Holubizky, Ihor. “In the Future”. BackFlash, June 15 2002, pp.5–13.
2001–2002
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McIntyre, Sophie. “Vernon Ah Kee”. Place/Displace catalogue, QCA Gallery, Nov 16 2001 – Jan 16 2002.
1999
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Eglitis, Anna. Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Art: Now Day, Early Days, CQU Press, 1999.
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Milani, Josh. “Vernon Ah Kee – If I was White”. Promise 1999, Mar–July 1999, QCA / Metro Arts / UQ.
Exhibitions
Off-site Exhibitions
![<span class="artist">Vernon Ah Kee</span><span class="title"> Unwritten</span><span class="year"> 2008</span>, <span class="medium">Charcoal on canvas</span>, <span class="dimen">150 x 90 cm</span>]( "<span class=\"artist\">Vernon Ah Kee</span><span class=\"title\"> Unwritten</span><span class=\"year\"> 2008</span>, <span class=\"medium\">Charcoal on canvas</span>, <span class=\"dimen\">150 x 90 cm</span>")
Nov 29 – Feb 15, 2026d harding, Vernon Ah Kee‘Unfolding: First Nations Works on Paper’Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery![]()
Oct 18 – Mar 1, 2026Richard Bell, Vernon Ah Kee, Judy Watson‘The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art’National Gallery of Art, Washington![]()
Jun 24 – Sep 27, 2025Vernon Ah Kee‘HOME 25 – Invisible Cities’Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Garden
