Dub Leffler: Darkish

Kluge-Ruhe exhibited Dub Leffler: Darkish, a selection of watercolors made for illustrations in children’s literature and other related works, from January 28 – August 8, 2021.

Click Here to Visit the Virtual Exhibition.

Darkish explored how Indigenous children are represented in children’s literature, and the term “darkish” was used by the adoption agency to describe the artist himself as a child. Historically, Aboriginal children have been stereotyped in children’s literature or excluded altogether, not unlike their adult counterparts in non-Indigenous fiction over the last 200 years. Leffler’s work expands the image of the Aboriginal child to encompass the diversity of Indigenous Australia, allowing the opportunity for all Aboriginal children to see themselves and their histories reflected in the books that help shape who they become. These delicately drawn and subtly painted works challenge the notion that children’s book illustrations aren’t art in and of themselves, breaking down Eurocentric constructions of what is and is not included in the exclusive category of “fine art.”

Dub Leffler participated in a virtual artist residency at Kluge-Ruhe from February 4 – May 25, 2021. He presented an artist talk and was a central speaker in panel discussions about the importance of diversity in children’s literature, how illustration is a form of art, and issues of representation for Indigenous Australians in the arts. He guest-lectured to several courses at UVA and participated in the Virginia Festival of the Book.