11. Darren Blackman Bauble 2025

Darren Blackman, Laser cut acrylic, raffia, L 10.5cm, W 10.5cm, D 1cm.

Darren Blackman is a proud Gureng Gureng/Gangalu man from Queensland’s central coast, with Kanak South Sea Island heritage from Vanuatu. Raised in Nambour on the Sunshine Coast, he has lived and worked across Far North and Western Queensland since 1995.

Darren’s art addresses the political and societal issues facing First Nations peoples in Australia today. Drawing on oral histories passed down by his Elders, he reinterprets these stories through his own perspective, blending them with personal observations and lived experience. His work provides a powerful commentary on the diverse voices within Aboriginal communities while critiquing how mainstream politics and media influence narratives about Indigenous culture.

His bauble is a unique expression of his neon Truth Hurts sculpture, part of his Post Truth series. This series engages with issues central to the Australian Government’s Close the Gap campaign, which aims to achieve health, education, and employment equality by 2030 and reduce the seventeen-year life-expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.

In 2025, Darren has mentored Dean Tyson, one of the artists in the Safe Space Residency Program, and continues to support and guide emerging artists in the community.

Darren Blackman is represented by Onespace Gallery in Meanjin (Brisbane).