Australian First Nations artist Richard Bell is the subject of a new documentary, You can leave nowwhich will be screened in Chicago Gene Siskel Cinema Center (April 15 at 7 p.m.). The film examines Bell’s life and work, positioning him, as he puts it, as an “activist posing as an artist” engaged in a decades-long protest against Indigenous erasure and colonialism. The film traces Bell’s trajectory from rural Queensland to an artist renowned for his politically charged works that span painting, performance, installation and social practice.
Following the April 15 screening, Bell will participate in a conversation with Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, the director of OSMOS, the New York gallery that showcases its work in the Expo Chicago area for large-scale, site-specific works. The presentation can give a taste of what awaits Bell’s pop-up at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in London next month.
