Darren Blackman: Post Truth

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair: 11 July–13 July

Onespace will proudly showcase Darren Blackman’s Post Truth at the 2025 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF). The exhibition then returns to Brisbane after the Fair, ensuring Blackman’s poetic words are seen across Queensland. Post Truth responds to the 2025 CIAF theme Pay Attention! by embracing the call to stay alert, informed, and critically engaged with the political and social forces that shape our lives. Blackman’s politically charged works are grounded in cultural practice and reimagined in succinct LED neon text-based sculptures. They disarm the viewer through wit, vibrancy and his unique play on words. Inspired by Tony Albert’s 2011 print Pay Attention, CIAF Artistic Director Teho Ropeyarn emphasises the power of artistic practice, stating that, “As artists, you hold the power to document, challenge, inspire, and innovate. Your work is a form of resistance, a means of survival, and a document of knowledge” (Teho Ropeyarn, 2025). Blackman’s work not only continues this critique of alert autonomy, but also actively contributes to the strong political invitation embodied in Pay Attention! Post Truth is shaped by Blackman’s solo exhibition Language of Intent (2023), the result of the 2023 Voice Referendum, and the newly elected Coalition Government’s axing of the Queensland Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry for First Nations people.