Gary Lee — midling 2 (Larrakia: Together)
Gary Lee
midling 2 (Larrakia: Together)
Curated by Maurice O’Riordan
Opening Saturday 2 March, 2 pm
With book launch of ‘HEAT: Gary Lee — Selected texts art & anthropology’
Opened by special guest Tracey Moffatt
Conversation: ‘HEAT’
Saturday 9 March, 2 pm
A look at contested, sometimes controversial spaces in relation to Indigenous identity, queerness and the archive. With Myles Russell-Cook (Senior Curator, Australian and First Nations Art, NGV), Tristen Harwood (Indigenous writer, cultural critic and researcher) and Jane Clark (Senior Research Curator, MONA), in conversation with Gary Lee and Maurice O’Riordan.
Exhibition runs 1 March to 13 April 2024
Kindly note we are closed Easter long-weekend.
The Cross Art Projects
In parallel to Mardi Gras Festival and Biennale of Sydney
CURATORIAL ESSAY: Time Being by Maurice O’Riordan
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Conversation: ‘HEAT’, 9 March 2024, The Cross Art Projects: A look at contested, sometimes controversial spaces in relation to Indigenous identity, queerness and the archive. With Myles Russell-Cook (Senior Curator, Australian and First Nations Art, NGV), Tristen Harwood (Indigenous writer, cultural critic and researcher) and Jane Clark (Senior Research Curator, MONA), in conversation with Gary Lee and Maurice O’Riordan.
The Cross Art Projects presents midling 2 (Larrakia: Together), a selection of new and remade works by Gary Lee. Drawing on the artist’s personal archive of historic family photographs and artworks (photo-based and illustration), the exhibition brings together key strands of a practice which redefines notions of cultural identity, masculinity and beauty from a Larrakia perspective.
A second iteration of the exhibition midling, shown at Coconut Studios as part of the 2023 Darwin Festival, midling 2 offers a broader selection from Lee’s recent foray into hand-coloured photo-based prints and a new presentation of photo-portraits including one-off works and others drawing on series Nice Coloured Boys (1994-ongoing), Skin (2002/03), Darwin Lads (2006) and Day Visitor (2010). midling 2 is Lee’s fifteenth solo exhibition in as many years, and his first solo exhibition in Sydney.
The exhibition is a stage for the Sydney launch of Heat: Gary Lee, selected texts, art & anthropology (2023). The anthology edited by Maurice O’Riordan—who also curates the exhibition—spans five decades of Lee’s writing on art, his own and others, and Larrakia and Indigenous culture.
Image: Heat: Gary Lee, selected texts, art & anthropology, (2023) Gary Lee, Self-portrait with Manish (detail), 2003, from Skin series. Courtesy and © Gary Lee.
About the artist
Based in Garramilla / Darwin, Gary Lee is a Larrakia artist, curator, writer, and anthropologist. Lee also has affinities to the Wardaman (NT) and Karajarri peoples (WA). An anthropologist by training (Australian National University) Lee has, since 1993, embarked on a photographic project focusing on male portraiture, which explores the nexus of culture, ethnicity and masculinity, particularly among ‘everyday’ boys/men. His work has been included in many significant exhibitions, most recently Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia at Art Gallery of WA (2021-22) and QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection, National Gallery of Victoria (2022). In 2022 Gary Lee won the Telstra NATSIAA Work on Paper Award for a delicate hand-painted photographic portrait of his Nagi (Larrakia: maternal grandfather).
Gary Lee, Moedra’nyini (Star Dreaming), 2023, pastel, pencil on type C print on Ilford cottonrag paper, 26.31 x 34.74cm (image). Courtesy and © Gary Lee.
Gary Lee, midling 2 (Larrakia: Together), The Cross Art Projects, 2024. Installation view. Photo: Silversalt.
Gary Lee, Mrs and Mr Lee, 2022, pastel, pencil, texta on type C print on Ilford cottonrag paper, 45 x 64cm (paper). Courtesy and © Gary Lee.
Left: Gary Lee, Nanna Cubillo, 2022, pastel, pencil, texta on type C print, 29.7 x 42 cm (paper), framed. Right: Gary Lee, Nagi, 2023, pastel, pencil on print on type C print on cotton rag paper, image size: 42 x 29.7cm (paper); framed. Courtesy and © Gary Lee. Photo: Silversalt.
Gary Lee, Ramesh’s paan shop 2, 2003/2023, from Skin series, type C print on Ilford cottonrag paper, A/P (edition 2 x A/P + 3), 26.6 x 42.4cm (image). Courtesy and © Gary Lee.
Top left: Gary Lee, Working sketch for subverted Ned Kelly, 2023, risograph print, 42 X 29.7 cm, (edition: 10), unframed. Top right: Gary Lee, Moedra’nyini (Star Dreaming), 2023, risograph print, 42 X 29.7 cm, (edition: 10), unframed. Bottom left: Gary Lee, Study for Black Madonna #1, 2023, risograph print, 42 X 29.7 cm, (edition: 10), unframed. Bottom right: Gary Lee, Biliya, 2023, risograph print, 42 X 29.7 cm, (edition: 10), unframed. Photo: Silversalt.
Gary Lee, Lily, Corroboree, 1997/2014, type C print on photographic paper, 1/1, 42 x 29.7cm (image). Courtesy and © Gary Lee.
Gary Lee, midling 2 (Larrakia: Together), The Cross Art Projects, 2024. Installation view. Photo: Silversalt.
Opening of Gary Lee: midling 2 at The Cross Art Projects, with book launch of ‘HEAT: Gary Lee — Selected texts art & anthropology’ by special guest Tracey Moffatt. Photo: Daniel Schepis.
Opening of Gary Lee: midling 2 at The Cross Art Projects, with book launch of ‘HEAT: Gary Lee — Selected texts art & anthropology’ by special guest Tracey Moffatt. Photo: Daniel Schepis.
Opening of Gary Lee: midling 2 at The Cross Art Projects, with book launch of ‘HEAT: Gary Lee — Selected texts art & anthropology’ by special guest Tracey Moffatt. Photo: Belle Blau.
Opening of Gary Lee: midling 2 at The Cross Art Projects, with book launch of ‘HEAT: Gary Lee — Selected texts art & anthropology’ by special guest Tracey Moffatt. Photo: Daniel Schepis.
Tristen Harwood (Indigenous writer, cultural critic and researcher) and curator Maurice O’Riordan, HEAT public conversation, March 9 2024. Photo: Belle Blau.
Panel of HEAT public conversation: Myles Russell-Cook (Senior Curator, Australian and First Nations Art, NGV), Tristen Harwood (Indigenous writer, cultural critic and researcher), Jane Clark (Senior Research Curator, MONA), artist Gary Lee and curator Maurice O’Riordan, HEAT public conversation, March 9 2024. Photo: Belle Blau.
Russell-Cook (Senior Curator, Australian and First Nations Art, NGV) and Jane Clark (Senior Research Curator, MONA), HEAT public conversation, March 9 2024. Photo: Belle Blau.
Artist Gary Lee at the HEAT public conversation, March 9 2024. Photo: Belle Blau.
References
Larrakia artist Gary Lee explores male beauty in new NT gallery exhibition, ABC Radio Darwin, 2023
Gary Lee interviewed by Daniel Browning, Australian Queer Archives, 2023
Gary Lee Biography by Maurice O’Riordan, DAAO, 2022
Interview with Gary Lee by Owen Leong, PERIL: Asian-Australian Arts & Culture, 2011
Tristan Harwood, review of Gary Lee Midling and Heat, Artlink, INDIGENOUS_Working Voices, Artlink, Issue 43:3, 2023
National Indigenous Times: Gary Lee reimages colonial photos through a Larrakia lens by Rudi Maxwell, March 18, 2024
Acknowledgements
The Cross Art Projects would like to thank Gary Lee, Maurice O’Riordan, Coconut Studios, Tracey Moffatt, Myles Russell-Cook, Tristen Harwood, Jane Clark, Don Whyte Framing. At the Cross Art Projects: Belle Blau, Simon Blau, Phillip Boulten, Reiana Aramoame.
We recognise the unceded land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation within which we live and create. We pay respects to the traditional custodians, promising to listen and learn.
