unwritten, 2OO9
Although mouthless and mute, the elusively rendered figure in Vernon Ah Kee’s unwritten
speaks to the misrepresented or suppressed histories of indigenous nations. Ah Kee, a member of the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji and Gugu Yimithirr peoples, is recognised for his unapologetic and candid explorations of the treatment of Aboriginal people in Australia.

The loosely executed black-on-white charcoal lines of unwritten trace the ominous impression of a face on the verge of perception. It is unclear as to whether the eyeless, earless and mouthless face is moving into or out of visibility and Ah Kee describes the face as depicting a state of ‘becoming human’ in the eyes of white settler society. In its irresolute form, unwritten speaks powerfully and clearly to the struggle between existence and erasure within imperial perceptions of Aboriginal people.
Milani Gallery, http://www.milanigallery.com.au/artist/vernon-ah-kee

“Ah Kee’s artistic practice has a valuable role in the discourse that is contemporary Aboriginal
art. Asserting the authenticity of urban Aboriginal identities and therefore the authenticity of
urban Aboriginal cultural production, connects Ah Kee with a proud history of urban Aboriginal
activism, a role that arguably has facilitated enormous developments in the awareness and
recognition of Aboriginal rights nationally and internationally. Aboriginal art should be as varied
as Aboriginal people, and the political strength of Aboriginal art today may be that it is an expression of contemporary Aboriginal sovereignty in action."
Gary Jones, ‘Vernon Ah Kee: Sovereign Warrior’ in Artlink: Blak on Blak vol.3O 1-2O1O, pp.5O-51

text from: Cairns Indigenous art fair resource
Go here for more info about Vernon Ah Kee