{"product_id":"gary-lee-biliya-biliya-larrakia-initiated-man","title":"Gary Lee, Biliya, (biliya — Larrakia: initiated man)","description":"\u003cp\u003eArtist: Gary Lee \u0026amp; Maurice O'Riordan\u003cbr\u003eTitle: Biliya, (biliya — Larrakia: initiated man)\u003cbr\u003eMedium: All risograph prints on 250gsm Vellum paper\u003cbr\u003eSize: 29.7cm x 42cm \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ItemInfo_row__L3mSl ____id__itemInfoWrapper__2EP8C\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ItemInfo_label__ZLFDp\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eEdition size: 2 x A\/P + 8\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003ePrinted by Matty van Roden \/ split\/shift press, Darwin\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe prints are based on original drawings by Gary, the earliest one (Study for Black Madonna #1) being from the early 1980s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNice Coloured Boys commemorates the distinguished practice of Gary Lee — artist,\u003cbr\u003ewriter, curator, designer and anthropologist. The exhibition offers a glimpse into the past\u003cbr\u003ewhen Lee, a young, gay Larrakia Aboriginal man from Darwin, moved to Sydney in the\u003cbr\u003eearly 1980s to pursue a career as a visual artist. As fate would have it, he arrived a\u003cbr\u003eyear earlier than his enrolment at Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) so he busied\u003cbr\u003ehimself with part-time studies at Alexander Mackie College and making hand-painted\u003cbr\u003esilk scarves, cards and jewellery for a stall with his cousin Laura Lee at Paddy’s Markets. The much sought-after stall space at Paddy’s Markets belonged to their Auntie Stella who was happy to hand it over to them for a time. Gary also teamed up with ex-\u003cbr\u003eDarwinite Andrew Trewin to design clothes, a collaboration which eventually saw him\u003cbr\u003eleave SCA at the end of the following year to undertake fashion designing full-time,\u003cbr\u003eworking out of studios in The Strand and Imperial arcades in Sydney’s CBD.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few years after graduating as an anthropologist, Gary commenced his\u003cbr\u003elong-running photo-portrait series Nice Coloured Boys in Dhaka, Bangladesh in\u003cbr\u003e1993—work which he has often referred to as visual anthropology. He was in Dhaka as a delegate, a guest curator for two Aboriginal art exhibitions touring a number of South Asian countries under the auspices of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the exhibitions, The Image Black, had been curated by Tracey Moffatt, her film\u003cbr\u003eNice Coloured Girls (1987) consciously referenced with Nice Coloured Boys.\u003cbr\u003eAgain, the political nexus of race\/colour and beauty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe four risographs in this exhibition also take their cue from original drawings by Gary from the 1980s and 1990s. Like Gary’s fashion design, Study for Black Madonna # 1 belies an interest in the iconography of beauty along with his burgeoning politicisation of colour and race. He eventually quit the world of fashion and the bright lights of Sydney to work at an Aboriginal art centre in Katherine, NT, and to pursue studies in anthropology.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eGary Lee is a Larrakia artist, curator, anthropologist and writer. His visual arts practice\u003cbr\u003eincludes photography, illustration, fashion design and design although he primarily works\u003cbr\u003eas a photographer. His photography focuses on male portraiture largely through a street\u003cbr\u003ephotography methodology which he began in the early 1990s in South Asia with his series Nice Coloured Boys which celebrates the beauty and diversity of coloured men and which was triggered by an appreciation that the look of men from these countries (initially India, Bangladesh and Nepal) reminded him of Aboriginal men in his hometown Darwin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eIn 2022, Gary won the Work on Paper Award at the Telstra National Aboriginal Art Awards\u003cbr\u003efor Nagi, 2022, a hand-coloured photo-portrait in tribute to his maternal grandfather Juan (John) Cubillo who was killed in the Bombing of Darwin, 1942. A book on Gary’s work, Heat: Gary Lee, selected texts, art \u0026amp; anthropology, was published in 2023 by dishevel books, Darwin. Heat was launched in Darwin as part of Gary’s solo exhibition midling (Larrakia: together), Coconut Studios, shown as part of the 2023 Darwin Festival. Heat was also launched in Sydney (as part of Gary’s solo exhibition midling 2, The Cross Art Projects, shown in parallel with the 2024 Sydney Mardi Gras Festival and the 2024 Biennale of Sydney), and in Melbourne as part of the solo exhibition Heat \/ Keep Him My Heart at Swarf gallery, Brunswick (curated by Tristen Harwood and Lauren Burrow). Heat was awarded Best Art Writing by an Indigenous Writer at the 2024 Art Writing and Publishing Awards hosted by the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eSince 2006 Gary has held 17 solo exhibitions in Darwin, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth,\u003cbr\u003eBrisbane, Canberra and Auckland and including his current exhibition at Suite7a. His\u003cbr\u003eupcoming solo exhibition Another other, the photo-politics of Gary Lee will be held at\u003cbr\u003ethe Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, 5 April to 7 September 2026. Gary has participated\u003cbr\u003ein many group exhibitions including nationally and internationally touring exhibitions. His\u003cbr\u003ework is represented in collections held by the National Gallery of Australia, Australian War\u003cbr\u003eMemorial, Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Museum and Art\u003cbr\u003eGallery of the NT, Charles Darwin University, and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and\u003cbr\u003eTorres Strait Islander Studies, along with many private collections.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\u003c\/blockquote\u003e","brand":"Suita7a","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47621285970138,"sku":null,"price":350.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0720\/8543\/8682\/files\/Screenshot2026-02-23at11.31.20pm.png?v=1771850518","url":"https:\/\/suite7a.co\/products\/gary-lee-biliya-biliya-larrakia-initiated-man","provider":"Suite7a","version":"1.0","type":"link"}