BLAK DOUGLAS: Hi, I'm Blak Douglas, Koori artist from Sydney,
originally from Western Sydney.
I descend from Dhungatti people from mid-north coast New South Wales
and am known for painting canvases.

QUESTION: WHAT HAS BEEN A TURNING POINT IN YOUR CAREER?

BLAK DOUGLAS: I have to say a main turning point in my career
was being poached from my very first major exhibition in Sydney
by an interstate gallery,
having a director come up to me and slip their card into my hand
and insist that we must speak.
And that culminated in exhibiting with that gallery
in Melbourne for around three years,
and that's certainly a feather in the cap for an emerging artist.
It certainly makes you feel a little bit more proper.

QUESTION: IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE RE-SHAPED IN THE ARTS SECTOR?

BLAK DOUGLAS: First of all, we need to take artists more seriously.
So, we need more federal government backing,
which will trickle out into the state government funding opportunities
for artists to exist,
make it a little bit easier for artists to coexist within community.
Less corporate backing.
Now, I don't know whether the two can be separated, like making cheese,
but that's what we really need to do, I think.
Perhaps private philanthropy
could aid artists to have a more stable existence.
But certainly what needs to be done straight away,
is to have more federal backing for artists
through grants and funding opportunities.

QUESTION: HOW DOES YOUR PRACTICE OVERLAP WITH ARTS ADVOCACY?

BLAK DOUGLAS: I guess my practice speaks as an example
of the things that we need to change within the establishment.
And so, unfortunately, many of us remain subordinated,
particularly as a First Nations artist or a First Nations curator.
We're subordinated under the white thumb of colonialism
and colonial input into funding establishments.
And so, it's old money that funds the establishments here.
And so, my art is just one of many
contemporary First Nations art practices
that is still trying to convince the establishments here
to give us a space on the wall,
without being subordinated and without being quarantined.

QUESTION: WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY IN YOUR WORK?

BLAK DOUGLAS: Making a sale.
You've got to pay the studio rent.
But to be honest, the ultimate joy for me
is knowing that I'm studied within the New South Wales curriculum
and I never expected that would happen,
given I'm a self taught artist
and I was not a made artist out of art school.
And so, to battle on for 20 years in my own practice
and in my own head,
to arrive at being studied in the curriculum
and having Year 12 artists e-mail me
and ask can they use images in their major work.
That, to me, really brings a smile to my face
and gives me a sense of belonging within the Arts world.