Contemporary Art Explained: Vernon Ah Kee
Channel: Dr Tim Gregory: Short Arts
Date: 2021-10-01

Artwork: Vernon Ah Kee, cantchant, 2007

Themes: Decolonial Art, Text Art, Settler "Naturalisation" 

Description:  In this video I discuss the teaching of English as colonial violence and how Vernon Ah Kee uses English as a weapon to confront settlers. I discuss the removal of the spaces between words as a deliberate strategy to make English difficult for "native" speakers. 

Educational Resource: A list of discussion questions, a studio activity, definition of key terms and artist quotes can be found here: https://www.timgregoryprojects.com/shortartsseasonone

Short Arts is a free video series written and produced by Dr Tim Gregory, Lecturer in Art at UNSW, Sydney (Eora Nation). Short Arts connects contemporary art to big and radical ideas.