FanForce Dig Deeper Palace Nova Eastend – Adelaide

Adelaide premiere screening

Dig Deeper Premiere Screening + Q&A

Featuring Ben McKeown & Mark Street.

Unearth the powerful narratives of four First Nations artists with the premiere screening of ‘Dig Deeper’. Delve into the personal stories and groundbreaking artistry of Blak Douglas, Maree Clarke, Penny Evans, and Ben McKeown. Join us at the premiere screening of DIG DEEPER and stay for a post-film Q&A, giving you the chance to engage directly with the minds behind the art and the film. Dive further into the artists’ motivations and inspirations, and hear from the film’s director on how the documentary came to be. Reserve your seat now and immerse yourself in the art of unfinished business.

Keep up to date with this screening of Dig Deeper on our Facebook Event Page!

the film

Dig Deeper into the lives of four Aboriginal artists.

Four divergent Indigenous artists use their personal stories and historical injustice as a driving force to break through and create internationally recognised urban art. To provoke or to regenerate? These artists are digging deeper into their art to uncover unfinished business.

Featuring the works of Blak Douglas, Maree Clarke, Penny Evans and Ben McKeown, Dig Deeper poses some confronting and challenging questions; how do you talk about the things that have happened to you and from your history; are you angry; does it stir passion and emotion in your work?

All four artists, critically renowned and celebrated for their ground-breaking work, channel their creativity to express their messages. Blak Douglas is about to win the Archibald Prize. His work draws you in with its vibrant colours and design but when you come closer, the blak fist comes out of the canvas and ‘smacks you in the face’. Maree Clarke is working on the biggest urban art installation in Australia, the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project; Penny Evans has her major work opening at the National Gallery of Australia; and Ben McKeown attempts a comeback after a heart attack at the $25,000 Selzer prize.

These artists are seriously breaking ground in finding powerful ways to tell their stories, but we can always dig deeper into the art of unfinished business.

After the film, there will be a special Q&A featuring the below speakers 

Mark Street – Director / Writer

Mark Street has worked in the film and TV industry for 25 years as a producer, director, cinematographer, editor and sound designer. At the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he worked on drama, arts, comedy, documentary productions and was nominated for an Emmy award. His first feature documentary ‘Can Art Stop a Bullet?’ made in 2019, won several awards in Australia including an AACTA, as well as many international film festivals.

Ben McKeown – Artist

A Wirangu descendant, Ben McKeown has studied art at the Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne, and has exhibited in Geneva, the United States of America and Spain. McKeown’s work stems from his fascination with the themes of identity, the act of concealing, dislocation in personal histories, the effect of urbanisation and how he finds ‘his place’ (far from his original place) within a city and its suburbs.

Troy-Anthony Baylis – Artist

Troy-Anthony Baylis is a descendant of the Jawoyn people from the NT and is also of Irish ancestry. He is a full-time artist and occasional curator and writer, living and working on Kaurna country. His work has been subject of 20 solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions, performances, and publications since 1993.  His work profiled in The National 2019: new Australian art at Carriageworks, Sydney. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include Nomenclatures (Art Gallery of South Australia, 2020-2021) and I Wanna Be Adorned (QUT Art Museum, 2023).