Dylan Mooney: Blak Superheroes

Overview

Whichever caped crusader is your favourite, and whichever comics-to-screen film franchise you like best, you've seen plenty of superheroes on screens large and small over the past decade or so. They're everywhere — including at Brisbane City Hall at present. The heroes gracing the walls here aren't your usual icons, though.

Instead, Dylan Mooney's Blak Superheroes gives First Nations characters a comic book-style makeover. The aims: representation and empowerment, all while championing survival, pride and power. The Yuwi, Torres Strait Islander and Australian-born South Sea Island artist explains that, in the past "Blak characters' representation in history has always been in the background, never the focal point, and characterised by racist stereotypes" — so his works seek to uplift, to showcase First Nations figures, and to show that surviving and thriving in Australia has required resilience and innovation.

Mooney uses drawing, printmaking and street art techniques to illustrate his creations, which are on display for free until Monday, April 18, 2022.

Dylan Mooney, Resist from the ongoing series 'Blak Superheroes', digital drawing. Courtesy the artist and N Smith Gallery, Gadigal Country.