Gureng Gureng/Gangalu artist Darren Blackman will present his new solo exhibition Post Truth, presented by Onespace Gallery, at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair.
With its 2025 theme, Pay Attention!, this year CIAF is turning the spotlight on critical voices and bold expressions.
Whilst Blackman has been making a bold and unmissable statement at CIAF since 2022, his Post Truth exhibition is set to bring something new to the fair this year.
A proud Gureng Gureng/Gangalu man with Kanak South Sea Islander heritage from Vanuatu, Blackman grew up in Nambour and has lived and worked across Far North and Western Queensland since 1995, emerging as a vital voice in contemporary Australian art.
Following his 2023 CIAF Art Award win in the Innovation category and inclusion in key exhibitions, including We Are Still Here at Parliament House and Say Our Name at Queensland Museum, Blackman's newest body of work will be showcased at CIAF from the 10th to the 13th of July.
Post Truth is Blackman's second major solo with the gallery and his most urgent and ambitious yet—featuring a series of neon-based works exploring systemic inequality and the lived experiences of Aboriginal peoples in so-called Australia.
CIAF artistic director, Teho Ropeyarn, said Blackman exemplifies the spirit of this year's theme.
"Pay Attention! is a call to see, listen, and act. Darren's work compels us to reckon with inherited injustice and examine how political intent and truth-telling intersect in daily life," he said.
"His exhibition is not only a feature of CIAF 2025, but a seminal inclusion that mirrors the curatorial direction and provokes the kind of critical engagement this year's theme demands."
Esteemed First Nations curator and leader of CIAF's Collectors Program, Bruce Johnson McLean, said "while some may see Blackman's political works as an attack on White Australia, in reality, they are a call for peace, self-reflection, mutual respect, and understanding... Blackman brings these poignant issues to light not to denigrate, but in the hope that it will ultimately make us all pay attention and take action".
For collectors, curators, and cultural leaders engaging with the urgency of this year's theme, Post Truth offers a compelling entry point. Those seeking deeper insight and connection are encouraged to register for CIAF's Collectors Program (registrations close Monday 23rd June), hosted by McLean himself, to explore the layered narratives, artistic innovations, and cultural knowledge that shape Queensland's First Nations art movement.
The artist's recent graduation from Griffith University's Contemporary Indigenous Art program marks a new chapter in a practice rooted in lived experience, community memory, and cultural resilience.
Blackman's works have recently been acquired by major institutions including Queensland Museum, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, State Library of Queensland, and the Queensland Children's Hospital, alongside a growing number of international collectors.
Through Post Truth, Blackman employs text, symbolism, and oral histories passed down by his Elders to highlight the challenges of self-determination, the limitations of policy, and the resilience of identity. Referencing the Australian Government's Close the Gap campaign, Blackman asks: "What happens when the truth is not enough?"
Following its CIAF debut, Post Truth will tour to Onespace Gallery in Brisbane from July 25 to August 23, 2025.
For more fashion, arts, culture and lifestyle news subscribe for free to the Style Up newsletter.
