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
WORK WORTH DOING
22 - 31 March 2019
Hand silk screen on linen sewn into garments and performed by staff at Shedshaker Brewery and Taproom for the Castlemaine State Festival 2019
Dimensions variable
WORK WORTH DOING integrates art into local Castlemaine business Shedshaker Brewery and Taproom by inviting workers to don garments silkscreen printed with the words ‘Work Worth Doing’ during the 10-day festival. The words are adapted from a speech made by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 – “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing”.
The project invites the workers who are wearing the garments and audiences viewing the artwork to reflect on the nature of their labour. How do we find meaning in our everyday work lives? What is the value of doing a good job, to work hard and to give it our best? What makes our work worth doing?
This project has been generously supported by a 2018 Arts Vic Grant from Creative Victoria and LaTrobe Art Institute. It is also kindly made possible by Shedshaker Brewery and Taproom and The Mill Castlemaine.
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