Gary Lee
Gary Lee is a Larrakia artist, curator, anthropologist and writer. As a writer Gary has written on his visual arts practice which has mainly focused on photo-based portraiture and through which he has held 15 solo exhibitions and participated in many group exhibitions. Gary has also written widely on the work of other artists and on Indigenous art, including for numerous exhibition catalogues and contemporary art magazines, and for substantive publications including Aratjara: Art of the First Australians: Contemporary Works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists (1993), Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Wesfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany (for which he was co-editor), and The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art (2000). Gary’s arts writing also relates to his work as a co-/curator of exhibitions including: Larrakia and other Darwin Families, Lyons Cottage, Darwin, 1994; Love Magic: Erotics and Politics in Indigenous Art (part of the Art Gallery of NSW’s Perspecta ‘99); Dirula, Contemporary Larrakia Art, 24HR Art, Darwin, 2002; and Billiamook, Charles Darwin University Gallery, 2004. Gary’s work as an anthropologist has involved him in sociocultural research relating to Darwin/NT (including for his play) and pharmocopea-related research, as well as considerable research into
Indigenous gay male and transgender issues. His pioneering research into the latter led to
publications such as The National Indigenous Gay and Transgender Project Consultation Report (1998, Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, Sydney) and numerous other articles, reports and papers. An anthology of Gary’s writings was published in 2023, Heat: Gary Lee, selected texts, art & anthropology (dishevel books).
Appearances