'Like TikTok before' - Wollongong Art Gallery's Daniel Mudie Cunningham exhibition

Daniel Mudie Cunningham hasn't even lived half a century yet, but his life is being honoured like Instagram reels in real life at the Wollongong Art Gallery until September.

The exhibition of photography, video and sculpture aims to resonate with all people with some describing the works as "like TikTok before there was TikTok".

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"We're living in an age of access to images and social media and what it means to represent oneself and put oneself online, but some of the work predates and prefigures some of those practices that are so ubiquitous today [like taking selfies and miming to music videos]," said the artist.

"One person actually said to me, it's like my music videos 'are like TikTok before TikTok'."

Expect drag, re-enactment and impersonation to grasp psychological and socio-political dimensions of queer identity.

Daniel said the exhibition has a "warm feeling" about it, and should resonate with anyone - whether they are dealing with the loss of a loved one, a queer person yearning for acceptance, or someone with a penchant for quirky Tina Turn covers.

"You see a consistency in the practice ... in terms of identity and portraiture and grappling with with what it means to be a queer man and, in a particular time and place in the early '90s," the artist said.

"And because I work in video and photography, you see a really interesting progression in the technology from analogue to digital. You also see all those really early, beautiful black and white photographs right through to very high definition video video works."

Daniel was the Director of Programs for Carriageworks for many years, he is a lecturer at the National Art School, while his archive is housed at the National Art Archive at the Art Gallery of NSW - so he's a big deal.

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Since the mid 1990s, his prolific writing has taken the form of artist monographs, catalogue essays, academic papers, articles, and reviews - with some of the best of his works curated into the current exhibition titled, Are you There?

Having 30 years of your life on show in such a way does make Daniel feel a little vulnerable, such as revealing his conservative religious upbringing leading on to "deeply internalised homophobia and self-loathing."

But the exhibition is a celebration, and with it comes much humour through Daniel's work to balance the serious.

One such work is "Proud Mary", where the artist creates a music video of the epic Tina Turner hit every five years to produce a four-part series, something he put so much "joy" into.

Are You There? by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, on at the Wollongong Art Gallery until September 10.

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