ProppaNOW, a group of indigenous Australian artists, has won a major award that will send them to New York City the following year after the selection committee determined that their methods will “serve as models for political empowerment around the world.”
ProppaNOW, which was founded in Brisbane in 2003, was created to support Indigenous artists working in urban settings. The group was given the 2022–2024 Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice on Friday evening in the United States, marking the expansion of that voice nearly two decades later.
The collaborative now includes Tony Albert, a Grammy, Yidinji, and Kuku-Yalanji artist, in addition to co-founder Richard Bell, Vernon Ah Kee, Jennifer Herd, Gordon Hookey, and Megan Cope. The mission statement of proppaNOW, according to him, “ascribes to an Aboriginal aesthetic that is not generally perceived as Aboriginal.”
We discuss social issues, criticism, and politics a lot, according to Albert.
“We focus a lot on the present moment.”
The work of the artists “enacts principles that are only now beginning to gain traction in other parts of the world,” according to Carin Kuoni, chief curator at The New School’s Vera List Center for Art and Politics, which bestows the award. She also claims that it would “galvanize arts and social justice communities” in New York.
In her words, “proppaNOW’s work is exemplary for communities across the world precisely because of their desire to look at injustice in a systematic sense, questioning institutions, power structures, and social customs – and they do so boldly by having art convey the arguments.
In the US, we’re starting to understand the long-term effects of colonialism and systematic racism.
The Jane Lombard Prize will allow proppaNOW to complete a brief residence in New York City and host an exhibition of their work, as well as have their work used in lessons.
The OCCURRENT AFFAIR exhibition, for which proppaNOW earned the award, showcases the variety of their work.
A glittering installation of chrome and mirror by Megan Cope, fish falling in delicate swirls from the ceiling, and haunting goolburris, or emus, sculpted from barbed wire by the late Laurie Nilsen sit next to Gordon Hookey’s brash canvases with overt messages for settler Australia—”THE AUSTIKA” emblazoned above a southern cross constellation on the national flag.
Near Richard Bell’s painting of a psychotic Joh Bjelke-Petersen holding a shotgun, sinister riot shields with charcoal crosshatching hang. Albert’s colorful map of early Australia, on which Scrooge McDuck chisels a money sign from the rock in its center, contrasts sharply with Jennifer Herd’s tiny pinhole drawings on white paper, which speak with a striking delicacy of frontier violence and resistance.
Even though the pieces differ, Albert claims that they are all united by the fact that none of them adhere to the “stigma that’s still linked” to Aboriginal art. Hence the requirement to establish a collective all those years ago.
He declares, “We think of ourselves as Aboriginal artists, and that’s incredibly significant.
However, getting institutions to comprehend how our work fit in was quite difficult.
Being a team paid off. Since then, each artist has etched their name into the Australian art landscape and, increasingly, into international art scenes.
Bell is in the midst of relocating to Europe, where he claims there is “much greater interest” in his work. Bell’s duplicate Tent Embassy will be displayed at the Tate in London next year. He thinks part of the reason for this is because his direct political statements, such as “YOU CAN GO NOW!” don’t make audiences feel as uneasy there as they do here.
Other than the British, no other Europeans were involved in the colonization of this region, he claims. “And even they aren’t involved in what’s happening right now,”
Traveling has “transformed or challenged,” according to Albert, the perceptions of the proppaNOW artists.
When you consider what we are doing from a worldwide perspective, he adds, “it doesn’t simply become about being Aboriginal; it’s about that minority and peripheral of society.” But you have to leave the nation to realize that.
Additionally, Albert claims that awarding the Jane Lombard Prize is not only “phenomenal,” but will also inspire old friends to work together once more.
It “truly blew us away,” he adds. “It kind of ignited a fire under us to keep trying and get the band back together.”
According to Kuoni, the New York university’s staff and students will spend the upcoming year getting ready for the arrival of proppaNOW “to assure [we] will be ready to meet them and create a framework of public research.”
We are excited about proppaNOW’s approach, she continues, “not because it is Australian or Aboriginal, but because it shows how art can support more equitable, inclusive societies. We can learn a lot from them, they say.
We have a tiny favor to ask you as you are joining us from India today. Since the Guardian began publishing 200 years ago, tens of millions of people have put their faith in our fearless reporting, turning to us in times of difficulty, uncertainty, camaraderie, and hope. We are currently financially supported by more than 1.5 million donors from 180 different nations, keeping us open to everyone and adamantly independent. Will you join in our support?
The Guardian does not have shareholders or a rich owner, unlike many other publications. Just the will and enthusiasm to produce high-impact global reporting that is never influenced by business or politics. Such reporting is essential to democracy, fairness, and the ability to hold the powerful accountable for their actions.
And we offer all of this for free, so anyone may read it. We act in this manner because we support information equality. More people will be able to follow the major international events that are shaping it, comprehend how they affect the individuals and communities they affect, and be motivated to take meaningful action as a result. Regardless of their capacity to pay for it, millions may profit from free access to high-quality, accurate news.
The moment is now, if there was ever a time to join us. Every donation, no matter how large or small, fuels our journalism and ensures our survival. It just takes a minute to support the Guardian with just $1. Please think about giving us a recurring monthly donation if you can. I’m grateful.