Reko Rennie (b. 1974) is a Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi artist living and working in Melbourne. His work is often deeply personal and explores his Aboriginal identity, combining the iconography of his Kamilaroi heritage with street art and graffiti styles. Largely self-taught, Rennie's practice is diverse, working across sculpture, painting, video work and installation. As a teenager in Melbourne Rennie explored graffiti through spray paint, which is a recurring medium and theme within his work. 'As an urban Indigenous Australian, my work often references the hip-hop and graffiti subcultures that were influential on my artistic practice in my formative years.' The spray can acts as a material and a message stick in Rennie's works, alongside the Aboriginal flag, crowns and diamonds he uses to question sovereignty and power in Australian post-colonial discourses of art. An activist, Rennie is outspoken around issues of education on First Nations' histories in Australia as well as the recognition and inclusion of First Nations' voices and self-determination in Australian political and cultural life.
