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.
Roof Project
Kay Abude
2006
Installation and performance
Suburban house roof, Melbourne
Over a 6-month period Abude used her house roof as a site of exploration. The material residues from the physical processes conducted on top of the roof were re-mapped, re-worked and re-inscribed in the studio. Roof Project was a body of work Abude created while completing her 2nd year of her Bachelor of Fine Art (Sculpture and Spatial Practice) degree at the Victorian College of the Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne in 2006.