Past Shows
The Hairless Gimp: Many Faces of Peter Dutton
April 2025, Goodspace Gallery
After our last exhibition, PoorPeopleCo have decided to focus on none other than Gina Rinehart’s most obedient gimp, Peter Dutton. Peter Dutton has built a career out of self-interest and opportunism, all while turning a blind eye to the needs of the people he supposedly represents. From his (alleged) insider trading after the GFC to the $5 million in public funds getting paid into his family trust that owns multiple childcare centres - totally not a conflict of interest, right? - he's no stranger to corruption. He’s shown little regard for the people of his home state, abandoning them during a natural disaster to attend a fundraiser hosted by Justin Hemmes... (hopefully the funds raised are going to his former staff since he committed $19.25 million worth of wage theft.) And let’s not forget his voting record: it's clear that the only thing Dutton truly cares about is himself and big business. He’s always ready to grovel at the hooves of his Mistress Gina Rinehart, as long as it’s accompanied by a fat donation, a fancy fundraiser, or a ride on her private jet. Come catch the show at GoodSpace Gallery on Wednesday 9th April - we're sure the works will leave you with your mouth hanging wide open, just like Peter Dutton's in every single photo.
Let Renters Eat Cake
Betty Swallows
@poorpeopleco
Photography, sculpture, cake
$400 each
Do you rent in Sydney? Then you already know the chaos. You’ve felt the anxiety, the humiliation, the rage. Let Renters Eat Cake captures the visceral reality of being a renter in modern-day Australia. The title itself is a twist on Marie Antoinette’s infamous line and draws a direct parallel between our current political leadership and the oblivious monarchy that ignored its people until revolution spilled into the streets. But it’s not stale bread we’re being denied—it’s housing, dignity, and the right to live without fear of eviction. On the other hand, Peter Dutton owns 26 investment properties that total a combined value of $30 million. He once boasted about buying his first home at 19, as if anyone who hasn’t managed that is simply lazy. This is a man so far removed from the lived experience of the average Australian that his policies read like satire. But it’s not a joke - it’s real. According to Homelessness Australia, over 122,000 people are experiencing homelessness on any given night. And that number is one that continues to rise. Meanwhile, rents soar, the housing market has no real regulations, rights for renters don’t exist and real estate agents with a 3rd grade comprehension skill (at best) treat tenants like roaches. In this series, the scrambling, clawing and fighting over a cake decorated with the Ray White logo is a parallel for the rental market in Sydney. Those privileged enough to own multiple investment properties throw them to renters like scraps, leaving us all to fight amongst ourselves for the mere handful of affordable properties left. The images show chaos because this system is chaos. No security. No safety. No room to breathe. The cake becomes a grotesque prize, a mockery of comfort, fought over by people left to starve under policies designed to serve only the elite. The commodification of basic needs is causing a widening inequality gap, creating a caste system where access to safety and stability depends on being able to take a loan out from the bank of mum and dad or revert to sex work, beating and humiliating the gimps who own properties. But you can only deny the hungry for so long before they burn the palace down. If Peter Dutton wants to play king, then he better remember what happened to the last monarch who told people to eat cake.
Russia's Dolls
Thom Crowhurst
@thomcrowhurst
Acrylic, spray paint, marker and charcoal on unstretched canvas
$6000
I painted this hellish thing as a darkly satirical warning to those planning to vote for Dutton, that all is never what it seems. That a far more troubling reality may be lurking beneath the surface, and that this crooked, freakish potato man may represent something much more sinister than we are led to believe. A complex void of layered lies, corruption, manipulation and deceit. Scum within scum.
You can at least take us out for a long lunch before you fuck us (series)
Tess Tickle
@poorpeopleco
Resin, alcohol ink, polyurethane varnish
Dutt Plugs $75 ea
Cops Are Flops $169 ea
Knobheads $269 ea
(he's not a) Monster Dong $369 ea
I decided to depict Peter Dutton’s face on penises for a few different reasons - the first being the most obvious: he’s a dickhead. And the other reasons are all the things he’s done that reinforce the fact he’s a dickhead, like: He tweeted “Prince Philip is definitely my favourite royal” (seriously, he tweeted that lol) He joked about Pacific Islands nations suffering effects of climate change He told a gay man (Alan Joyce) that he should “stick to knitting” He banned ADF staff from celebrating diversity and cultural events He audited the wrong company before awarding them a $532 million government contract He said women who had fallen pregnant after being raped in offshore detention were lying or exaggerating what had happened, and denied them access to Australia for urgent medical care. So yeah. Peter Dutton’s a real dickhead.
The Dutton Divide (What he says vs what he means)
Michaela Kaiser
@michaelakaiserart
Watercolour, acrylic, oil paint
$450
My focus for this artwork was to show the massive divide between the person Dutton tries to portray himself as vs what he really stands for and how he has voted in the past. This is explored largely through headlines over the years, along with direct quotes and information about how he has voted on various issues. I want to compare these with the 'nice guy' narrative that he is trying to put forward now, as he promises to 'save' Australia from the Labor government. I want for people to refuse to take him at his word and instead, reflect on his previous actions. I'd like for us to see just how different the things he is currently saying and promising are from who he really is - where his priorities really lie. The same man who does not believe in Medicare, who was voted 'The Worst Health Minister in 35 years' (in a poll of Australian doctors) does not suddenly care about helping sick people. The guy with a net worth of $300 million doesn't suddenly care about the working class. He has shown us over and over that he is racist, misogynistic, homophobic, classist and generally uncaring. He has voted in ways that personally benefit himself and his own interests. I hope this work will encourage people to really look at the resources out there (particularly They Vote For You) and make sure that we are considering how the priorities of each politician and political party align with our own values.
A self-peeling spud; denialism won't save you.
Georgia Laughton
@georgia.photos.art.mischief
Lino print on paper
$150
(30% to be donated to the Central Victorian Bat Alliance)
Climate change denialism comes in a range of flavours. Some folk cherry-pick their data. Others double-down with misrepresentations and logical fallacies. Whilst others place impossible expectations upon modelling and display their lack of understanding the simple difference between climate and weather. Whatever the denialism, they have all succeeded in delaying or halting effective action to help our planet - this has been especially true for the whole Coalition Party. The linoprint is my pondering on how climate change affects us all. There is no safe space for the denialists to sit it out and watch it affect only others. Peter Dutton, his methodology of denialism and actions against our planet, is just one suicidal spud who sadly will learn too late that when climate change kills us, he is included in that ‘us’.
National Disability Insurance Scam
Ruby
@pointless_stabs
Ink on paper
$170
($130 for concession or student)
The world is a vampire, the NDIS is a bin fire. No notes.
Bad Boy Dutty
Rogan Vegas
@rgnvgs
Digital photomontage
$150
Bad Boy Dutty explores the symbiotic and grotesque relationship between Dutton and Gina Rinehart, and by extension all politicians and their big business financiers. The fusion of Dutton and Rinehart with Bubby and his mother, from Rolf de Heer’s 1993 dark comedy Bad Boy Bubby, evokes themes of dominance and submission, wealth and enforcement, parent and child. The distorted face, the face of Donald Pleasance in Ted Kotcheff’s Wake in Fright (1971), looms over the background. On one level this is an intertextual reference to the themes of Wake in Fright, that colonial Australia is a wasteland of cultural entrapment born out of isolation. The face also acts as a metaphor for the psyche of Australia under the grips of our current ruling elites, screaming or laughing as the looming face watches on from behind an inverted golden icon of natural Australia. The composition references American Gothic to reinforce these themes, reframing Grant Wood’s painting of rural conservatism into a portrayal of Australia’s ruling elite.
Dutton's Vision
Andrew
@Agit8d1
Stencil, spray paint & inks
POA
Operating under the guise of @Agit8d1, Andrew is inspired by street art, stencil art, graffiti, pop culture and Russian propaganda art. Andrew uses spray paint, stencils and inks to create multi layered stencils. He dabbles in making stickers and paste ups which have appeared on the walls and street furniture of such locations as London, Portsmouth, York, Manuas (Brazil) Azerbaijan, Naples, Frankfurt, Tokyo and all around Australia.
Peter Grutton: the Mother, the Father and the Holy Grublet (series)
Laura Hunt
@lunarhut
Polymer clay, jelly wax, fabric, polyester, latex and butter beans
Peter Grutton (now with added fetus) - $700
Crab Dutton - $400
Dickworm Dutton - $400
The Suckler - $350
Double Chin Dutton - $350
Dead Dutton - $300
The Crawler - $300
Two Face Dutton - $250
Small Duttons - $100 each
Entire series - $3000
He is not the root of the problem - just another grotesque product of it. A parasite, feeding on fear, thriving in the stagnant, festering ecosystem of fools who sustain him. He does not serve the working man, he has no need to; his existence is self-contained, self-perpetuating. A closed loop. Phallic and womanly, childlike and monstrous. A man-grub—looming, imposing—coasting on bigoted dog whistles and empty populist talking points. There is nothing singular about him. He is merely a symptom, a replicated form in an endless cycle of narcissistic parasites, each one birthing the next in asexually grotesque succession. He will never end - so long as there are those willing to feed him.
Radiated People
Neil P. McCann
@we_are_pipe
Blended debris, pigment, resin
'
$130 each:
Chernobyl
3 Mile Island
Fukushima
Sellafield
Marlinga Tjartja / Emu Field, Maralinga
I’ve tried to incorporate a likeness of Peter Dutton at sites of nuclear accidents/tests/production plants, in order to be exposed to high doses of compassion and understanding. My work involves painting, sculpture and installation. I like a bit of mixed business and love creating a moody vibe with access to amenities and a decent seat or viewing area, and a snack/drink. I’m a brand, a human, an era, an epoch, I’m a bitch, I’m a liar. #VYBZ
Dutton Dressed As Mutton
Jim Anderson
b. 1937
Author and artist
Digital image on archival cotton rag
$350 framed
Well known for his novels Billarooby (1988) and Chipman’s African Adventure (2015), Jim Anderson (at 88 years old) is still creating digital artwork and solo exhibitions in his hometown of Sydney. He was forced into the limelight with his involvement as an editor on the notorious OZ magazine in the late London sixties. He was one of the three prosecuted in the notorious Oz Trial.
Down Boy
Dominic Proust
@dom_in_8
Watercolour and ink
NFS
The shape of things to come
Dominic Proust
@dom_in_8
Watercolour and ink
NFS
Throat Goat
Tess Tickle
@poorpeopleco
Watercolour on cotton paper
$250 framed original
For a man who hates the LGBTQIA+ community so much, he really looks like a natural going to town on that dagwood dog.
Nosferatu Dutton
Toby Zoates
@tobyzoates
Framed original with photocopies on paper
$500 framed original
Dutton is a self-serving vampire, only interested in self-advancement and sucking the public dry of its money. He cynically doesn't care about any issues to do with people's needs, thus is a typical neoliberal huckster, dummy for the corporate state, especially wealthy bribers such as Gina Ironheart and industries like GE's bankrupt nuclear disaster in waiting. He is a mini-Trump and thus would be a disaster for Australia.
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P.M.P. Potato Mash Prime Minister
Betty Swallows
@poorpeopleco
Photography
Sculpture in image made from instant mashed potato stuffed into a second-hand navy blue suit then installed in front of Parliament House.
$750 framed
Peter Dutton often gets compared to a potato - but I’d argue that’s an insult to this humble root vegetable. Throughout history, there have been times where potatoes have sustained entire communities. From being the only food for peasants in rural Ireland in the 18th Century to the ever-reliable fried or mashed side to accompany your $5 steak at the Dunedoo RSL, the potato has always been a working class hero. But Dutton is no hero for the working class - instead, he’s more like the potato fungus that caused the Great Famine. Dutton’s policies and anti-humanitarian outlook are like an infection - seeping out across communities, decimating compassion, draining public resources and replacing care and empathy with cruelty. He’s come to infect us all with his regressive visions for Australia that undermine public health, social equity, and the lives of the working class. As an artist and a queer person who has faced the detriments of his hate-filled politics, I say this fungus must be stopped before he infects every last spud. He’s been using diversity as a way to spark division, by seeing cultural difference as a threat - and it’s clear Dutton has come to bleach the vibrant palette of Australia into a dull, cultureless monotone. But we’re not a one-flag nation - we’re a patchwork of flags, people and histories who will not let ourselves be mashed into silence.
Smug, happy, angry, formal, sly, sad Potato Man wants to run our country - hurray!
Milla Watts
@m_r_c_w_
Potatoes, needles, skewers, clay
NFS
You can’t eat coal, but you can eat potatoes
Nikki Poulos
@nikkipoulos_ | @singleandsologroup
Performance work
Video courtesy of @sydneyspecificart
Potatoes take a stance against Peter Dutton’s fantasy nuclear plan which will lead to increased emissions from coal fired plants until 2050. This participatory performance invites guests to become activists by helping to chop, cook, and serve chips. From kilos of potatoes to net zero waste.
The Many Faces of Gina
August 2024, Goodspace Gallery
We all know who Gina Rinehart is. Her love for coal and coins makes Hoggish Greedly (perhaps the greatest Captain Planet villain) look like a socialist eco-warrior. Coming in hot as number one on the list of Australia's richest people, she has a net worth of $31.3 billion. She swindled her children out of their inheritance of stolen money in an elaborate scheme. She believes climate change is propaganda peddled by extremist environmentalists. She thinks Margaret Thatcher is an inspirational figure. She's using her hoarded wealth to host multiple lavish dinners at $14,000 a head with "no strings attached" for Peter Dutton. She's been caught schmoozing with Donald Trump at his 2024 presidential campaign. In her eyes, this is all fine. Her recent portrait by Vincent Namatijra, however, is apparently where she draws the moral line. Artists everywhere are baffled by this adult tantrum. Why is this billionaire, who seems completely unfazed by criticisms of her grotesque fortune, unethical business model, and rampant environmental destruction, so perturbed by an artist’s representation of her? Namatijra’s (brilliant) portrait begins to show what lies beneath her fleshy face, but does not really shine a light on the festering putrescence that is her soul, her core. We clearly need to finish what Namatjira started. As such, the art collective Poor People is curating an exhibition dedicated to Gina & the parasitic worm that pilots her skin suit. If she's upset by one artist’s depiction of her face, we hope multiple depictions of her soul will make her head explode.
View the Works Below
SCUMSUCKER (LARD ENCASED) NOT TO SCALE
Tess Tickle, 2024
@poorpeopleco
Preserved clam worm, 2L beef fat, isopropyl alcohol, distilled water, silicone, epoxy, glass, cotton wicks.
When I thought about the type of person that is able to sleep happily at night knowing that their inherited riches are founded on sapping the resources of stolen land, as well as using that hoarded wealth to donate to far-right white nationalists (like Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson of One Nation), I immediately thought of an evil worm that pilots a mech suit made of skin to appear human. And that is the type of person Gina Rinehart apparently is.
So here she is in all her glory - a preserved worm encased by 2L of molten fat.
PROLARPS PROFESSIONAL LAPSE
@we_are_pipe, 2024
Mixed business.
EAT THE RICH, SPECIFICALLY THIS BITCH.
Kel Christiansen, 2024
Pen and ink on paper.
HIGHBRED PRINCESS
Betty Swallows, 2024
Collage
“Mining in Australia occupies less than one-fifth of one per cent of the total surface of our continent and yet it supports 14 million people. Nothing should be sacred from mining whether it’s your ground, my ground, the Blackfellas ground or anybody else's. So the question of Aboriginal land rights and things of this nature shouldn’t exist.”
[Aboriginal people] that have been assimilated into, you know, earning good living orearning wages amongst the civilised areas, those that have been accepted into society and they have accepted society and can handle society, I’d leave them well alone…
“The ones that are no good to themselves and can’t accept things, the half-castes -and this is where most of the trouble comes - I would dope the water up so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in future and that would solve the problem.”
- Quotes from Lang Hancock (Gina Rinehart’s father)
THE PHILANTHROPIST
Betty Swallows, 2024
Collage
“Ms Rinehart topped the Australian financial review list as the richest person in Australia for the fifth year in a row, with the publication listing her wealth at $40.61 billion.”
- Victor Petrovic and Emmy Groves (ABC News)
“Donald Trump shows us the way to succeed.”
- Gina Rinehart
CLOSED INHERITANCE
Betty Swallows, 2024
Collage
“… destructive display of greed, jealousy and a selfish sense of entitlement… “
- Ginia Rinehart (Gina’s daughter) in response to her mother changing the deed to Lang Hancock’s billion-dollar inheritance without her children’s knowledge.
“… before it gets really out of hand, I would try to get it back in house and out of public view…”
⁃ Barnaby Joyce’s private email to Gina Rinehart, regarding the inheritance lawsuits.
“This lawyer stuff will never work and all that will result is one massive tax, leaving you in bankruptcy.”
⁃ Gina Rinehart’s response to her children fighting for their inheritance in court.
THE MINERS QUEEN
Betty Swallows, 2024
Collage
“The council chairman has received a complaint from Gina Rinehart regarding her depiction in two works by Namatjira,” he wrote. “Subsequent to Mrs Rinehart’s complaint to the chairman, we have received two further complaints from people who appear to be employees (or former employees) of Hancock Prospecting. I have also received a call from a former NCI chair to advise Ms Rinehart is rallying her friends to send complaints, demanding the works be removed from display.”
Several complainants strongly praised Rinehart as “one of the most influential and important people in Australia”, an “Australian icon”, and “a role model for aspiring female entrepreneurs”. Some asked the portrait be taken down and “redone immediately”, or for the gallery to “issue a formal written apology”.
- Josh Butler (The Guardian)
BILLION DOLLAR OMELETTE
Maddy Furness, 2024
Performance piece (egging)