Coded Image/Coded Text
June 3 - July 25, 2026
Hoda Afshar and Vernon Ah Kee
Curated by Liz Ikiriko
In partnership with the 26th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and the Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICCA)
Coded Image/Coded Text centres on a four-channel film - Code Black/Riot - developed by Vernon Ah Kee, Hoda Afshar and Behrouz Boochani, originally commissioned for the 2026 Sydney Biennale. Created in collaboration with the advocacy organization Change the Record, the work confronts the crisis of mass incarceration of First Nations youth in Australia. Through collective storytelling, Code Black/Riot amplifies the voices and experiences of incarcerated Aboriginal young people while highlighting the power of cross-cultural collaboration. Its presentation on Turtle Island for the first time underscores shared colonial histories affecting Indigenous Peoples in Canada, Australia and New Zealand (Aotearoa), encouraging a tri-nation dialogue on justice and sovereignty.
The exhibition also features Ah Kee’s striking text-based paintings and Afshar’s film Remain, which documents the lives of stateless men who stayed on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, after the closure of the immigration detention centre in 2017. Together, these works use photography, film and language to explore image making, collaboration and the enduring importance of narrative storytelling.
Image Credit: Hoda Afshar and Vernon Ah Kee, Code Black/Riot, 2025 (still), four-channel digital video, colour, sound, 33 min. Photo: Hoda Afshar. © and courtesy the artists. Courtesy Milani Gallery
Public Programming
Exhibition Opening and imagineNATIVE Art Crawl
Thursday, June 4, 2026
6PM-9PM
Please join us for the opening of Coded Image/Coded Text featuring the works of Australian-based Vernon Ah Kee (Kuku Yalandji/Waanji/Yidinji/Gugu Yimithirr) and Hoda Afshar (Iran).
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ICCA hosted Artist Panel Discussion with Vernon Ah Kee
Saturday, June 6, 2026
2PM-4PM
Stay tuned for more details!
Artist Bios
Hoda Afshar (b. Iran) is a visual artist whose practice explores the complex interplay between politics and aesthetics, knowledge and representation, visibility and violence. Her work interrogates the ways in which image-making can both reinforce and disrupt dominant narratives.
Vernon Ah Kee, a member of the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji, and Gugu Yimithirr peoples, whose conceptual text pieces, videos, photographs and drawings form a critique of Australian culture from the perspective of the Aboriginal experience of contemporary life.