Wikipedia

Draft:Ben McKeown


Ben McKeown (born 1976) is an Australian contemporary artist working across painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media. Drawing on his Wirangu and Kaurna heritage, his practice explores Country, memory, history, and ancestry. He completed a practice-led Doctor of Philosophy at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), University of Melbourne. His work is held in public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the State Library of Victoria, the City of Port Phillip Collection, Michigan State University, and the Durban Art Gallery.[1][2]

Early life and education

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McKeown is a Wirangu artist from South Australia whose maternal ancestry also include the Hack family, early Quaker settlers of colonial South Australia; a history of the Hack brothers John and Stephen Hack Chequered Lives traces his descent from South Australian pioneer John Barton Hack.[3] He enrolled at the Victorian College of the Arts as a mature-age student in 2005, completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Visual Art (2007), a Master of Visual Art (2009), a Master of Fine Art (2012), and a practice-led PhD, ‘‘Intersections: Landscapes of Belonging’’.[4] He delivered the valedictory address at the Victorian College of the Arts 2012 graduation ceremony.[5] In 2000, McKeown was named Mornington Peninsula Young Citizen of the Year, and was a semi-finalist for Young Australian of the Year in 2001 and 2002.[6]

Career

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In 1999, McKeown collaborated with artist William Kelly on Journeys and Destinations, representing Australia in the United Nations 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights International Print Portfolio. The portfolio was launched at the Durban Art Gallery, South Africa, with a foreword by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and an address by the 14th Dalai Lama, and later toured to the United Nations Headquarters, New York; the collaboration was covered by the South African ‘‘Mail & Guardian’’, and the print was reproduced on the cover of the Spanish journal ‘‘Tiempo de Paz’’ in 2006.[7] The following year, his work was included in ‘‘Art Towards Reconciliation’’, an international touring print exhibition in Gernika-Lumo, Basque country, Spain, alongside Nobel laureate Günter Grass and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Ut.[8] In 2007, the State Library of Victoria acquired McKeown’s work ‘‘Streetscape – Clifton Hill’’.[9]

In 2011, he won the Victorian Indigenous Art Award (Deadly Award) for his photographic work untitled;[10] The State Library of Victoria subsequently commissioned the Australian Tapestry Workshop to weave his design Spring Street End for permanent display. According to Australian Tapestry Workshop director Antonia Syme, the commission required the development of a new colour, referred to as "Ben McKeown blue.”[11] The tapestry was discussed in TheCollector,[12] and the Australian Tapestry Workshop’s subsequent State Library commission, Sorry by Juan Davila, was designed to complement it.[13] McKeown’s painting 44 Degrees I’ll Have a Long Black Please (2009) featured in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary ‘‘Artscape: Landscape of the Wynne’’, directed by Klaus Toft, which followed McKeown and fellow painters Geoff Dyer, Graham Fransella, and Kate Shaw as each attempted to win the Wynne Prize.[14] The painting was later used as the cover of ‘‘The Age of Entitlement" (2015) by Melbourne band The Basics, recorded at Abbey Road Studios.[15] McKeown appeared in Mark Street’s documentary ‘‘Can Art Stop a Bullet: William Kelly’s Big Picture’’ (2020), which also featured philosopher A. C. Grayling and actor Martin Sheen.[16] A companion book of the same name (F-Reel Films, 2021) included a chapter, “The Indigenous Effect,” featuring McKeown alongside art historians Ian McLean and Sasha Grishin.[17] Street’s subsequent documentary ‘‘Dig Deeper’’ (2023) profiled McKeown’s practice alongside artists Blak Douglas, Maree Clarke, and Penny Evans, premiering at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.[18] In 2023, he was commissioned by The Australian Ballet to write “Ancestral Energies” for the programme accompanying ‘‘Identity’’ at the Sydney Opera House and Arts Centre Melbourne.[19]

‘‘I Wonder!’’

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The painting and screenprint ‘‘I Wonder!’’ has recurred throughout McKeown’s practice for more than two decades. An early version was reproduced in ‘‘Art and Humanist Ideals’’ (Macmillan Art Publishing, 2003), acknowledging UNESCO, the Arts Council of England, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York,[20] The work later became the genesis of Mark Street’s documentary ‘‘Dig Deeper’’ (2023).[21]

Reception

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Writing in ‘‘Artlink’’ in 2023, editor Una Rey situated McKeown’s photographic work Untitled (2011) within a lineage of confessional and identity-based photography, comparing it to Nan Goldin, Destiny Deacon, and Christian Thompson, and identified his return to Country on the Eyre Peninsula as a significant development in his practice and doctoral research.[22] In ‘‘Dig Deeper’’, critic and art broadcaster Daniel Browning, who had earlier profiled McKeown for ‘‘Artlink’’ in 2011, described his urban streetscapes as a distinctive conceptual achievement, saying no other artist had combined a cartographic, bird’s-eye view of Country with the urban landscape in the same way.[23]

Curatorial work

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From 2008 to 2009, McKeown was Assistant Curator at Linden Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne, where he curated ‘‘Just Can’t Get Enough’’.[24] In 2010, he curated ‘‘20 Years: Bold. Black. Brilliant.’’, a retrospective marking the 20th anniversary of the Ilbijerri Theatre Company at Bunjilaka, Melbourne Museum, with a catalogue essay alongside contributions from Rachael Maza Long and Wesley Enoch.[25]

Collections

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McKeown’s work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the State Library of Victoria, the City of Port Phillip Collection, Michigan State University, the Durban Art Gallery, the Archive of Humanist Art, the Australian Print Workshop Archive, the Larry Rawling Print Workshop Archive, and United Nations collections in New York and Geneva, among others.[26]

Awards

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YearAwardResult
2000Mornington Peninsula Young Citizen of the YearWinner
2001, 2002Young Australian of the YearSemi-finalist
2005Lin Onus Award, Victorian Indigenous Art AwardFinalist
2006Trevor Nicholls Award, Friends of the VCAWinner
2007Athenaeum Club Visual Arts AwardFinalist
2009Victorian Indigenous Art Award (Deadly Award)Commended
2011Victorian Indigenous Art Award (Deadly Award)Winner
2013Bowness Photography PrizeFinalist
2014Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize (Nick Waterlow OAM Highly Commended Award)Highly Commended

[27][28]

References

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  1. ↑ ‘‘Berradiskidetzerako Artea / Arte Hacia la Reconciliación / Art Towards Reconciliation’’ (exhibition catalogue), Gernika-Lumo, 2000
  2. ↑ "Spring Street end | Australian Tapestry Workshop". www.austapestry.com.au. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  3. ↑ Mathews, I. H., with Durrant, C., ‘‘Chequered Lives: John Barton Hack and Stephen Hack and the Early Days of South Australia’’, Wakefield Press, 2013
  4. ↑ Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art, “Biography – Ben McKeown,” https://kallirolfecontemporaryart.com/artists/ben-mckeown/biography.html
  5. ↑ University of Melbourne, Conferring of Degrees Ceremony, programme, 24 May 2012 (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, 2012), 11.
  6. ↑ Walking the Pathways to Peace, “Ben McKeown,” https://walkingthepathwaystopeace.com/ben-mckeown/
  7. ↑ “Australians and Reconciliation Promoted in United Nations/Human Rights Print Portfolio” (press release), 1999; Sudheim, A., “Printing the Bill,” ‘‘Mail & Guardian’’, 17–22 December 1999; ‘‘Tiempo de Paz’’, No. 80, Primavera 2006, Movimiento por la Paz, el Desarme y la Libertad, Madrid
  8. ↑ ’‘Berradiskidetzerako Artea / Arte Hacia la Reconciliación / Art Towards Reconciliation’’ (exhibition catalogue), Gernika-Lumo, 2000
  9. ↑ State Library Victoria, “Streetscape - Clifton Hill [art original] / Ben McKeown,” find.slv.vic.gov.au, PCLT 1328
  10. ↑ Jackson, Andra (2011-03-11). "Winner of the deadly arts". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  11. ↑ Murphy, G., “Transformation into tapestry,” ‘‘Voice’’ (University of Melbourne), Vol. 7, No. 5, 5 June – 10 July 2011
  12. ↑ Relli, Sara (2024-07-24). "Understanding Post-War Australian History in 3 Artworks". TheCollector. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  13. ↑ “On the Looms,” ‘‘At the Workshop’’, Issue 29, Australian Tapestry Workshop, September 2013
  14. ↑ ’‘Artscape: Landscape of the Wynne’’, ABC TV, directed by Klaus Toft, 2009
  15. ↑ "The Age of Entitlement, by The Basics". The Basics. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  16. ↑ "Can Art Stop A Bullet | F-REEL PTY LTD". www.f-reel.com. Archived from the original on 2026-03-12. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  17. ↑ Street, M., and Cantwell, T., ‘‘Can Art Stop a Bullet?’’, F-Reel Films, 2021, ISBN 978-1-922252-35-7
  18. ↑ “Dig Deeper,” FilmInk, https://www.filmink.com.au/reviews/dig-deeper/
  19. ↑ McKeown, B., “Ancestral Energies,” in ‘‘Identity’’ (programme), The Australian Ballet, 2023
  20. ↑ Kelly, W. (ed.), ‘‘Art and Humanist Ideals: Contemporary Perspectives’’, Macmillan Art Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1-876832-25-8
  21. ↑ Australia, Cinema (2023-06-18). "Historical injustice, identity and urban art: Mark Street writes about his new documentary, Dig Deeper". Cinema Australia. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  22. ↑ Rey, U., “Ben McKeown and the films of Mark Street,” ‘‘Artlink’’, Issue 43:3, Summer 2023
  23. ↑ Browning, D., quoted in ‘‘Dig Deeper’’, directed by Mark Street, produced by Fiona Cochrane, 2023
  24. ↑ Nelson, R., “Indigenous works of hope,” ‘‘The Age’’, 2009
  25. ↑ ’‘20 Years: Bold. Black. Brilliant. Ilbijerri Theatre Company: A retrospective’’ (exhibition catalogue), Melbourne Museum, 2010
  26. ↑ "Alcaston Gallery | Alcaston Gallery". Alcaston Gallery. Archived from the original on 2025-12-04. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  27. ↑ "Biography - Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art". kallirolfecontemporaryart.com. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  28. ↑ maph.org.au https://maph.org.au/events/295/. Retrieved 2026-07-13. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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