“So what?” That’s what Australian artist Ben Quilty says to people who ask if people should support an exhibition featuring drug trafficker Myuran Sukumaran’s artwork.
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“I get that he did this stupid thing in such a dangerous place, but my argument has always been: ‘So what?’ I’m still going to support him,” Quilty said.
Another Day in Paradise opens at the Bendigo Art Gallery today and is sure to bring up conflicting feelings for some patrons and generate divisive discussion before, during and after the exhibition.
Quilty said rather than celebrating the drug dealer’s life, the exhibition should serve as a warning to other young men.
“Young men do some pretty stupid things.That's still no reason to say 'just because you did that, I'm not going to be a part of your life’,” he said.
"For anyone who disagrees with any of Myuran's work being here, they should bring their sons to see it. It's a really dark warning of what can happen to young men if they do lose their way and go into the ultimate, self-indulgent crimes that so many do.”
Sukumaran reached out to Quilty in 2012. He wanted to learn about creating art and Quilty, intrigued by Sukumaran, visited him in Bali’s Kerobokan Prison.
Before meeting Quilty, Sukumaran had been painting for years.
Quilty described the examples of work that Sukumaran sent him as “really bad”.
“He was hopeless but he had incredible drive,” Quilty said.
“When I met him, the questions he asked were sensible questions. He wanted to learn, which I was intrigued by.
“A lot of people ask: ‘How do you make art?’ He had specific questions about materials and mediums, that meant he was really trying.
“(After our first meeting) it was like turning on a light and off he went. He made 42 self portraits in two weeks from the day after my first visit.
“He covered the walls of his cell in self portraits. It was extraordinary to see someone do that.”
The quantity and quality of Sukumaran’s work only got better in the following three years.
Part of the Another Day in Paradise exhibition features a series of paintings completed by Sukumaran on Nusa Kambangan Island in the last 72 hours of his life before his execution in 2015.
Quilty said the works from Sukumaran’s last 72 hours were his best.
“He nailed it in that last 72 hours,” Quilty sad. “When you look at these paintings – they're so confident.
“You would think for a man in that situation, he's got to be pretty near to breaking point and falling apart but they're his most masterful works.”
For many people considering visiting the exhibition, the question will be “Should it be shown?” or “What should we think?”
Bendigo Art Gallery curatorial manager Tansy Curtin said Quilty and the gallery felt Bendigo was the right venue for the exhibition.
“Sometimes regional galleries have the capacity to be a bit more controversial or do something the state galleries can't. We are lucky in that way,” she said.
“Irrespective of what happened, (Myuran Sukumaran) was still a human being, he was still a son, he was still a brother, still a friend. We get a sense of that and it’s an emotional connection.”
Curtin said we will never be able to answer the “what if” questions around Sukumaran’s rehabilitation and redemption.
“A number of circumstances and situations have bought us to this point,” she said.
“Possibly, if he hadn't been caught, he may never have turned to art. But then that's the power of the art, because he has redeemed his personality.
“If hadn't been caught maybe he would have become a major drug dealer. We can say perhaps, perhaps, perhaps but we don't know.
“All we know is what we've got, which is this body of work and this incredible evocative story to tell about it.”
Stories of Sukumaran’s rehabilitation are something Quilty has seen himself.
He became a very good young man who paid a huge, huge price for his crimes. He paid the ultimate price for his crimes. There's no arguing that he didn't do the time. He did. And he left this (artwork) behind for people.
- Ben Quilty on Myuran Sukumaran
One that he recalled was around the proceeds from an exhibition of political portraits that was shown in Melbourne by Quilty and Matthew Sleeth.
All the paintings in the show were sold and Sukumaran gave his proceeds back to Kerobokan Prison.
“People were saying it's proceeds of crime. Bullshit. I said: ‘He's in a prison in Indonesia, he can do what he wants’,” Quilty said.
“He sold the paintings in Melbourne and every dollar he gave to the prison authorities to build a gallery on the outside of the prison for inmates to sell their work, not only paintings but crafts and T-shirts.
“The prisoners needed an income to buy food in the prison.”
Quilty said it showed he had been rehabilitated.
“He became a very good young man who paid a huge, huge price for his crimes,” Quilty said.
“(Sukumaran) paid the ultimate price for his crimes. There's no arguing that he didn't do the time. He did. And he left this behind for people.
”There were still people who thought he deserved what was coming to him, I hope they come and look.”
Another Day in Paradise is at the Bendigo Art Gallery