Reko Rennie

Looming large, Reko Rennie’s latest video work What Do We Want? (2022) refuses to be ignored.

The three-channel video and sound installation draws us into a world of shadows and silhouettes, as if we are observing the secret meeting of an underground resistance movement. The opening scene displays the title of the piece in bold red text, referencing Rennie’s long-standing connection with graffiti art and culture, a recurring theme in his practice. We then see another familiar icon of Rennie’s practice, in the form of the insignia on the back of the keikogi uniforms worn by martial artists. The diamond symbol is a significant icon in Kamilaroi culture, and is often seen in the environment demarcating important sites. This is another important theme in Rennie’s work, which affirms his Ancestral connections to Country, and here it takes the form of the enclosed fist: the ultimate symbol of resistance, activism, and determination.

The cast is comprised of over a dozen First Nations people of different ages, professions, and cultural backgrounds, whose voices come together in solidarity as they shout for ‘restitution’ and ‘land back.’ As the students grapple and practice technique, we see another symbolic statement take place as the miniature Australian flags they are holding are dropped to the floor, in stark contrast to the large Aboriginal flags that hang on the walls.

The slick soundtrack by A.B. Original marries sampled instrumentation and vinyl crackle with a gritty boom-bap–style beat in reference to the African–American hip-hop artists of the 1980s and 90s who were looking outside of their own country to other forms of cultural expression, such as Chinese martial-arts films and non-western instrumentation.

The work also references and celebrates the history of Blaxploitation cinema in America, a low-budget genre which often saw African–American creatives producing, directing, and soundtracking films that represented the realities of African–American culture at a time when there was little interest in doing so from the mainstream. These films were often genre-defying combinations of comedy and action, with many taking influence from the popularity of kung fu films at the time.

With this work, Rennie further expands his practice by incorporating more elements of his personal life, referencing the twenty-plus years he has spent practising jiu-jitsu. In What Do We Want?, the personal and the political become inseparable, coming together in a form of Indigenous expression that commands attention.

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the rising awareness around racial inequity, What Do We Want? reminds us of the important history of solidarity between Indigenous Australian and African–American political activism. As the piece closes with the final statement of ‘No more cops killing our mob,’ we are left with Black fists, raised in unity.