Kay Abude is an artist based in Melbourne, Australia. She has an expanded sculptural practice working in large-scale installation, photography, performance, video and silk screen printing. Abude’s work is about work itself: the value of it, the effort, the inequality and insecurity of it, especially for artists. Her recent commissions include BE CREATIVE REMAIN RESILIENT, Mural Commission, The Showroom, London, United Kingdom, 2023-24; Smoko Room, Paul Selzer Prize, Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, Southbank, 2023; (DON’T) BE AN ARTIST, Flash Forward – Creative Laneways Project, The Hotel Windsor, Melbourne, 2021; NEVER WORK/ STOP WORKING, NGV Triennial EXTRA, NGV International, Melbourne, 2021; and WORK WORTH DOING, La Trobe Art Institute, Bendigo, Victoria, 2020-21. Abude was a studio artist at Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne from 2019 to 2022.
Kay Abude
POWER
8 March - 7 July 2019
Hand silk screen on linen - artworks performed by artists of colour and their family members on the opening night of the exhibition at Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne
Dimensions variable
Kay Abude hand screen printed one hundred garments with the word POWER with an image of herself and two other artists of colour, Lara Chamas and Ceren Sinanoglu. For the opening night of National Anthem, curated by Dr Kate Just at Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne, Abude invited one hundred artists of colour and their families to arrive at the opening wearing these artworks. This critical mass manifested an act of community solidarity and an intention to make people of colour more visible in the art world and constructions of national identity.
POWER brought together the diverse cultures that make up an ‘Australian identity'. My identity stems from a working-class background with a relentless work ethic at its centre. It’s different from that of my immigrant parents and different from a white Australian identity. My identity has also been fostered within the creative arts sector.
~ Kay Abude