My country, I still call Australia home: Contemporary art from Black Australia

Gordon Hookey is the fifth Australian artist to be commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art’s Children’s Art Centre to develop a large-scale interactive exhibition for children. 1 Originally trained as a sculptor, Hookey is perhaps best known for his bold and vibrant paintings. Like his sculptures, Hookey’s paintings are laden with biting humour and layers of meaning, referencing race relations and contemporary issues. In developing a project especially for children, Hookey has described the ‘Kangaroo Crew’ exhibition as ‘a giant sculpture . . . a giant installation that interacts’. 2 ‘Kangaroo Crew’ is based on The Sacred Hill , the artist’s own narrative — a tale of four kangaroos overcoming adversity to return to their home. 3 This story and its characters provide the foundation for the design of the interactive exhibition space, hands-on and multimedia activities, and the 25 paintings on display. These paintings also illustrate a picture book published by the Children’s Art Centre. In the exhibition, children encounter four different environments — the plains, scrub, rocks and trees. These are the habitats of the four kangaroos, who once lived together in harmony on a hill until the arrival of the myna birds. 4 The kangaroo characters include Blue, the plains kangaroo; Potsy, the potoroo; Treez, the tree kangaroo; and Rocko, the rock wallaby. 5 Together, Blue, Potsy, Rocko and Treez illustrate the diversity of the kangaroo world, which reflects the diversity of Indigenous Australia. Hookey describes the narrative: You’ve got these four heroes and they’ve encountered some kind of injustice. They suffered as a result of that, but then they come together in order to fight against this injustice . . . They are able to rise above adversity and become victorious. 6 Gordon Hookey’s ‘Kangaroo Crew’ TAMSIN CULL The Sacred Hill (detail) 2013 featuring working paintings of Blue, Treez, Rocko and Potsy from ‘Kangaroo Crew’ Courtesy: The artist 167