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Blak Douglas’ sun-splashed studio in Redfern is a sight to behold. The walls are covered with hisworks and even the stairs have been painted the colours of the Aboriginal flag. “You know what I’vejust realised? We’ve made a historic discovery. iPhones don’t recognize the word ‘lamingtons’,” hesays, reaching into a paper bag mid-interview to pull one out. “How un-Australian,” he declares,and then laughs.Blak is a Koori artist, both visual and performing, who works primarily in the medium of acrylicson canvas. His compositions bring light to the contemporary concerns of racism in postcolonialcountries, critically interrogating through his own language how it feels to be embroiled within theCommonwealth of Australia as an Aboriginal person. Blak describes his art as being “laced withhumour and comedy, but through tragedy”, each work often revealing several layers of scathingirony and political truth upon deeper analysis. Ultimately, he is concerned with opening up moderndialogue on white colonialism, a history that remains painfully recent and relevant for him.“All my paintings are flavoured with activism,” he says. “Certain writers have referred to my workas ‘Aboriginal hip hop on canvas’, and I think it’s perfect. It’s exactly what it was at the time. Hip hopcan be a rhythmical sucker punch. You don’t see it coming but then it just hits you, even if you’veenjoyed getting to that point where you get hit. That’s what my work does.”Blak’s approach is sardonic and satirical, at times combining witty turns-of-phrases with scrapsof everyday life to raise awareness; other times delivering hard-hitting polemic against hegemonicstructures. “The main thing that fuels my desire to get up and create in the genre of Aboriginal art,if it can be pigeonholed as a genre, is that we are constantly at war. And we’ve been in battle for 229years now. If my art or my imagery could spark a revolution, that would be what I hope to achievebefore I go to my grave.”034
Smoke and Mirrors (Uncle Max Eulo)214cm x 214cmArchibald Prize 2015 Finalist
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