Reko Rennie (b. 1974, Australia) is an interdisciplinary artist who explores his Aboriginal identity through contemporary media. Through his art, Rennie provokes discussion surrounding Indigenous culture in contemporary urban environments. Largely autobiographical, his commanding works combine the iconography of his Kamilaroi heritage, merging traditional diamond-shaped designs, hand-drawn symbols and repetitive patterning to subvert romantic ideologies of Aboriginal identity.
Rennie is collected by National Gallery of Australia, Kluge-Ruhe Institute (USA), New contemporary Art Museum (China), RMIT (Australia), amongst others. Recent group exhibitions include Personal Structures, 57th Venice Biennale (2017), Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, the National Gallery of Australia (2017), NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria (2017), 13th Biennale Cuenca, Ecuador (2016), and Cut It Out, Urban Nation Gallery, Berlin (2015).
In 2017, Rennie collaborated with the Lyon Housemuseum, creating Visible Invisible, a colossal artwork the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, spreading across the concrete base of the building. He has been the recipient of many major awards and residencies including the 2008 Victorian Indigenous Art Awards, and the 2009 Cite International des Arts Australia Council Residency, Paris.