Guess Who's Coming to the Corroboree: Late Night Sketches - Vernon Ah Kee In Conversation w/ Uncle Noel Blair

Join us at Outer Space for an intimate and thought-provoking conversation between Vernon Ah Kee and Uncle Noel Blair, two leading First Nation artists and voices in contemporary Australian art and culture. Together, they will explore the intersections of their artistic practices and identity, reflecting on Uncle Noel's recent Facade Projection work, Guess Who's Coming to the Corroboree: Late Night Sketches, created in collaboration with Libby Harward and exhibited on the Judith Wright Arts Centre each evening from 5:30pm - 11:30pm, July 12 - August 16 2025.

This dialogue will offer audiences rare insight into the ideas, processes, and shared influences that shape their practices. Whether you're a practicing artist, a curious thinker, or an avid gallery-goer, this event invites you to engage more deeply with the work and perspectives of two distinct yet resonant creative minds.

The conversation will be followed by a Q&A.

Free with RSVP. Space is limited, early booking is encouraged.

Read more about each artist below:

Uncle Noel (Gulla) Blair

Born 1947, Wondai Hospital near Cherbourg, Uncle Noel (Gulla) Blair is a Jinibara artist celebrated for his witty, political, and humorous works that offer a sharp lens on the world around him. Taught to draw and paint by his elders in Cherbourg, Noel’s art is deeply rooted in cultural knowledge and storytelling.

Growing up in Cherbourg under the restrictions of the Aboriginal Protection Act, Noel used art as a means of resilience and self-expression. His works often blend humor with incisive political commentary, reflecting his lived experiences and perspectives on history, identity, and justice.

Inspired by his life experience and the teachings of elders, Noel’s art balances personal narratives with broader societal critiques. At 76, he continues to create with the same sharp wit and creative vision, passing his artistic legacy to his grandchildren to ensure the continuation of his cultural and artistic traditions.

Vernon Ah Kee

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 exoticized 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.

Ah Kee’s work has been featured in a number of significant national and international exhibitions, including ‘Revolutions: Forms that turn’, the 16th Biennale of Sydney (2008); ‘Once Removed’, Australian Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2009); ‘Ideas of Barack’, National Gallery of Victoria (2011); ‘Tall Man’, Gertrude Contemporary (2011); ‘Everything Falls Apart’, Artspace Sydney (2012); ‘unDisclosed’: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial’, National Gallery of Australia (2012); ‘My Country: I Still Call Australia Home’, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (2013); and ‘Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art’, National Gallery of Canada (2013).

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. Other recent exhibitions include ‘Imaginary Accord’, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2015); ‘GOMA Q’, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2015); ‘When Silence Falls’, Art Gallery of New South Wales (2015-16); ‘Encounters’, National Museum of Australia (2015-16); ‘Brutal Truths’, Griffith University Art Gallery (2015-16); and ‘Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia’, Harvard Art Museums (2016), 'The Island', Campbelltown Arts Centre (2020).

Libby Harward

Libby Harward is a Ngugi woman from Mulgumpin (Moreton Island) in the Quandamooka region, whose arts practice spans over 20 years. In addition to her art practice, Harward is the Director and founder of Munimba-ja Art Centre. She is an active cultural and arts advocate, contributing to community projects and educational initiatives that support the revitalisation and continuation of Indigenous knowledge and practices.

Read more about Uncle Noel's Facade Projection here.

This is a free event, and all are welcome to attend, engage and explore, respectfully.

ACCESSIBILITY: The gallery is wheelchair accessible from the Brunswick St entrance. Please note due to current building works at the Judith Wright Arts Centre, the passenger lift is not usable. Bathrooms can be accessed from the Level 1 courtyard entrance of the Judith Wright Arts Centre.

If you have any specific access needs or questions, please either email admin@outerspacebrisbane.org or send us a message on Instagram. 

This event is generously sponsored by Blaklash.

Blaklash is a collective of First Nations designers, curators, and placemakers. With a focus on amplifying Indigenous voices, Blaklash creates platforms for First Nations agency through Country-led approaches to architecture, art, and design. Their work centres Indigenous knowledge systems and champions the role of Country in shaping cultural and built environments.

Outer Space is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, the Australian Government through Creative Australia and the Outer Space community.

Image credit of Vernon Ah Kee: Joe Rucklie

Image credit of Uncle Noel: Munimba-ja.com.au