Arlene TextaQueen “Australia’s felt-tip super-heroine” is bringing her new drawn series “We Don’t Need Another Hero” to Gallerysmith in North Melbourne this month.

This collection, featuring ‘people of colour’ as “outlaws of their post-apocalypse, drawn as posters for fictional movies.” This theme speaks from the artists own experience of self, being a ‘person of colour’, as she puts it, but this series appears less of an autobiographical theme and more on the topic of racial politics.

“I’ve sought out peers from various sociocultural and racial backgrounds to propose characters, costumes, and fictional surrounds to represent themselves as survivors of their armageddon. The post-apocalyptic genre seems a relevant forum to discuss Indigenous and people of colour immigrant experiences living in settler colonial realities.” – Says Arlene

Subjects portrayed in the show include Indigenous artist Tony Albert in “Yesterday When The War Began’, Samoan circus and burlesque performer Fez Faanana in “Attack of the Under Water Woman”, Indigenous activist Robbie Thorpe in “Armageddon Outta Here” and more.

TextaQueen hosts many drawing workshops for kids and others, she shows ‘slide-shows’ and creates live drawing-performances.

“TextaQueen explores politics of sex, gender and identity in tangent with ideas of self-image and inter-personal relationships. Her practice articulates delicate interplays between vulnerability and empowerment, intimacy and exhibitionism, and subjective and collective expressions of feminist, queer, and cultural identities.”

TextaQueen is an amazing advocate and artist who has showcased around the world and locally and we are proud and excited to see her latest works so get down to Abbottsford and take in the power of the marker which will be opened by Gary Foley and featuring Ladies of Colour Agency and tunes by DJ Pandie Panther.

Who: TextaQueen
What: We Don’t Need Another Hero – Solo
Where: Gallerysmith – 170-174 Abbotsford St, North Melbourne
When: Opening night Friday 21st October 6-8pm. Show runs from 13th.

Check out Arlene TextaQueens website and the Facebook Event for more info!