cartoonist, artist and teacher, works in Canberra. He illustrated a pamphlet by the ACT Indigenous Arts Officer Neville O’Neill, The Arts in Canberra: A guide to the arts in Canberra (Arts ACT, June 1998), which included cartoons on the various arts, e.g. the heading for 'The Visual Arts’ shows a young Aboriginal man in front of his own portrait, and all the places listed are given an 'Indigenous Rating’. He ran or helped indigenous artist Neville O’Neill run a cartoon workshop for 5 young people in Canberra, which resulted in Phrost: ACT Indigenous Youth Comic Book funded by Healthpact ACT, coordinated by Neville John O’Neill, published in Canberra in July 2000 and distributed free through ACT education and cultural outlets. This consists of amateurish comics warning against crime and drug, alcohol and cigarette abuse and encouraging healthy living by 5 indigenous young people then living in Canberra – Jessica Johnson, Natilma (known as Nat) Mununggurr, Zachariah Johnson, Adam Rustenburg and Brendan Harris – plus cover designs by DEE and a final short comic by Harrison himself.
Harrison has drawn regular cartoons for Muse since he was engaged by Helen Musa (editor 1990-96), e.g. …For Every Silver-Lined Cloud, A Little Rain Must Fall – showing Muse's 20th birthday cake beside a hanging body ('Studio One’) with Grim Reaper, Muse May 2000, 20th birthday issue (rather messy ’70s Private Eye style). In 2001 he illustrated When Angels Call, satirical stories by Craig Cormick and poems by Hal Judge.
FROM PRESS RELEASE: 'Craig Cormick, winner of the ACT Book of the Year Award in 1999, said that the anthology showed how each artistic medium could work together to express similar passions in its own unique way. “Satire can be very powerful. It is a great way for artists to take on dominant institutions, by poking fun at them and exposing their injustices or hypocrisies. I was drawn to working with Hal and Stephen because their work is so strong, and always has a message, and I felt that together our work would prove more trenchant than anything we produced individually.” When Angels Call was published by Canberra's Aberrant Genotype Press, and supported by a grant from the Capital Arts Patrons Organisation (CAPO).’
- Writers:
- Kerr, Joan
- Date written:
- 1996
- Last updated:
- 2007
