Resistance’n’­empowermeant, 2026

Gordon Hookey

Gordon Hookey: Hello. My name is Gordon Hookey. I’m an artist that comes from North Queensland, and I’m based out of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, at the moment. And I am, at the moment, working on a large-format work for the exhibition The House of Nisaba. And I guess my first thoughts, or ideas, or concepts about representing something, is me looking at the world from an Australian perspective as well.

So, in doing that, I thought I’d utilize a very strong concept, or a very strong idea, in the form of an Aboriginal resistance fighter who lived in the Brisbane area about 150 years ago. And he stopped colonization, or the settlement happening in his land, in his country, for something like 13 years.

And I just thought he would be an apt, or the right, icon or representation to, I guess, resist what’s happening in the world in regards to wars, in regards to the dehumanization struggles of First Nations people throughout. So, in essence, Dundalli, which is the name of the warrior, but also he is the reason why this work has the title as well, which is called Resistance’n’empowermeant.

So it’s just utilizing him as the icon to put things right, or make the world a better place. And in order to make the world a better place, the world has to realize its humanity. And I use quite several
devices to try and express that. Like, perhaps one of the first things that I do utilize is text and words.

And they act like a foot in the door for people to engage with the pictorial elements of the work as well. So Dundalli is the prime figure, or the prime representation. And he is standing in a very strong pose of resistance.

And so everything flows out from him. In one of his hands, he’s holding an olive plant. And, you know, it’s like he’s shaking the olive plant. The olive leaves are flowing all throughout the artwork. So just that icon, or the emblem, is calling for peace, straight off the bat.

And then, you know, on another part of the canvas there is text and words, and those words resonate with the whole concept of the work that I’m doing. And in the spaces around some of those words, little vignettes of what’s happening in the world as well. Stories, I guess, which interconnect. And it’s a comment, or a criticism, on misinformation online, on manipulation, on control.

It’s about power as well, and the misuse of that power. So the flow is trying to make the world a better place. And I’m looking at ethics, and the words that we aspire to as well. You know, it’s kind of taking what’s going on, but then trying to make it right, so to speak.