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Abdul Abdullah (born 1986) is a
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
-based Australian multidisciplinary artist, the younger brother of Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, also an artist. Abdul Abdullah has been a finalist several times in the Archibald, Wynne and
Sulman Prize The Sir John Sulman Prize is one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, having been established in 1936. It is now held concurrently with the Archibald Prize, Australia's best-known art prize, and also with the Wynne Prize, at the Art Galler ...
s. He creates provocative works that make political statements and query identity, in particular looking at being a
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
in Australia, and examines the themes of alienation and
othering In philosophy, the Other is a fundamental concept referring to anyone or anything perceived as distinct or different from oneself. This distinction is crucial for understanding how individuals construct their own identities, as the encounter wit ...
.


Early life and education

Born in
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
in 1986, Abdul Abdullah is the younger brother of artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah (born 1977), who lives in rural
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. Their mother is Malay, while their father is Anglo-Australian, and the family is Muslim. Abdullah is a 7th-generation Australian on his father's side, whose ancestors arrived on the '' Indefatigable'' (a convict ship) 200 years ago. Two of his grandfathers fought in the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
. He graduated from
Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...
in Perth in 2008, and went on to complete an
Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...
at UNSW Art and Design in Sydney in 2017.


Career

In April 2015, the
Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...
held a "WA Focus" exhibition featuring the work of both Abdul and Abdul-Rahman, in which both brothers express their experiences of growing up Muslim in Australia. For Abdul, nine years younger than Abdul-Rahman, the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 had a huge effect on him as a child, and has informed his art practice. His memories include witnessing a man tearing his mother's
hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...
from her head. His works at this exhibition included three
collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...
s of people wearing balaclavas over their heads, which had been created from photos of an eye each of Kanye and
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
and the mouth of
Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
. The series was called ''Entertainers (Kanye, Beyoncé and Madonna)'', but that clue was missed by the people who wrote to ''
The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...
'' (which had featured an article on the exhibition and a photo of the brothers in front of the work) complaining that the art works promoted terrorism. In September 2015, Abdullah gave a talk about his practice at
TedX TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...
Sydney, speaking about how his identity had been politicised since the events of
9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, and how the War on Terror had affected his family and his understanding of and relationship with the world. In 2016 his portrait of former
New South Wales Police The New South Wales Police Force is a law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia, established in 1862. With more than 17,000 police officers, it is the largest police organisation in Australia, policing an area of 801,60 ...
officer Craig Campbell, who defended two
Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
men during the
2005 Cronulla riots The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of race riots in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It began in the beachside suburb of Cronulla on 11 December, and spread over to additional suburbs the next few nights. The riots were triggered by ...
and afterwards suffered from
PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...
, was a finalist for the
Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...
, the third time for Abdullah. In a 2017 solo exhibition at the UNSW Galleries, Abdullah's work represented "popular understandings of young Muslims from a non-Muslim perspective", which encouraged viewers to think about their own biases. In February–March 2018, Abdullah's work was included in an exhibition co-curated by his brother Abdul-Rahman with Nur Shkembi, called ''Waqt al-tagheer: Time of change'' at ACE Open,
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
as part of the
Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...
. The exhibition showcased the work of 11 Muslim Australian artists, including that of Abdul-Rahman and photographic artist Hoda Afshar. His works ''Journey to the West'' and ''Wedding'' (comprising two works, "Delegated Risk Management" and "Mutual Assurances") again explore the theme of identity, contrasting self-identity with the identity imposed by others. His works for the touring exhibition ''Violent Salt'' (2019–2020), which featured many overtly political works by mostly
Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...
artists, were called All Let Us Rejoice and For We Are Young and Free, and featured Australian soldiers overlaid with smiley
emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...
s. National Party MP
George Christensen George Robert Christensen (born 30 June 1978) is an Australian politician, currently serving as a member of the Mackay Regional Council. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, serving as the member for the divisio ...
and a local councillor for Mackay took exception and complained about the artworks in Facebook posts, after which both Abdullah and the local gallery staff received threats, and the local mayor asked the gallery to remove the works. His installation at the 2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Monster Theatres (29 February – 16 August 2020), ''Understudy'', featured an ape dressed in clothes, sitting in an empty theatre. In June 2020 Abdullah participated in a project called 52 Actions at Artspace in Sydney, in which he documented his own text-based tattoos in a series of photographs, accompanied by a written piece explaining how each serves to remind him of his political principles. From 28 May until 24 July 2022, the exhibition ''Land Abounds'', featuring the work of both Abdullah brothers and video work by
Tracey Moffatt Tracey Moffatt (born 12 November 1960) is an Indigenous Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video. In 2017, she represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale with her solo exhibition, "My Horizon". Her works are held in t ...
, runs at the NSW Southern Highlands gallery of Ngununggula (meaning "belonging" in the local Gundungurra language).


Art practice and themes

Abdullah works in
painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
, photography, video, installation and
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
. Seeing himself as an "outsider amongst outsiders", as a Muslim and Malay, and he engages with and depicts the experience of " the Other" in society. He has worked with various marginalised minority groups, and has a special interest in how young Australian Muslims experience
multiculturalism in Australia Multiculturalism in Australia is today reflected by the Multiculturalism, multicultural composition of its people, its Immigration to Australia, immigration policies, its Racial Discrimination Act 1975, prohibition on discrimination, equality be ...
. He does not attempt to address specifics of the religion, but instead examines the experience of displacement and alienation which come with migration (to countries in which Muslims are in the minority). He also engages with other creatives throughout the
Asia Pacific region Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
, and admires the work of
Tracey Moffatt Tracey Moffatt (born 12 November 1960) is an Indigenous Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video. In 2017, she represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale with her solo exhibition, "My Horizon". Her works are held in t ...
. On the occasion of the 2022 exhibition ''Land Abounds'', featuring work of both Abdullah brothers and video works by Moffatt, Abdul's brother Abdul-Rahman said: Abdullah creates deliberately provocative works in order to "create an environment that encourages critical thinking". In "Self-Portrait as an Ultra-nationalist" (2013), his T-shirt reads "Fuck off we’re full" and features an
Australian flag The national flag of Australia is based on the British Blue Ensign—a blue field with the Union Jack in the upper hoist quarter—augmented with a large white seven-pointed star (the Commonwealth Star) and a representation of the Southern C ...
. For "It Doesn't Matter How I Feel" (2013) only his hands are not painted black, with one doing a
thumbs-up A thumb signal, usually described as a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, is a common hand gesture achieved by a closed fist held with the thumb extended upward or downward, respectively. The thumbs-up gesture is associated with positivity, approval, ac ...
, the other extending the middle finger. He has encountered negative reactions to his work sometimes, but has also received positive responses for the same work, such as from
military veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the armed forces. A topic of interest for resea ...
s for his ''Violent Salt'' works, which opened a discussion on the poor treatment of veterans.


Awards and recognition

In 2011 Abdullah won the Blake Prize for Human Justice, for his photographic self-portrait entitled "Them and Us" of himself and his brother, for which he especially got a
tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...
of the
Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...
placed around an Islamic crescent moon and star. Abdullah was a finalist in the 2016 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship. his work had been shortlisted five times for the Archibald: in 2011 for a portrait of academic and media personality
Waleed Aly Waleed Aly (born 15 August 1978) is an Australian television presenter, journalist, academic, and lawyer. Aly is a lecturer in politics at Monash University working in their Global Terrorism Research Centre, and a co-host of Network Ten's ne ...
; in 2013 for his portrait of boxer
Anthony Mundine Anthony Steven Mundine (born 21 May 1975) is an Australian former professional boxer and rugby league footballer. In boxing he competed from 2000 to 2021, and held the World Boxing Association (WBA) super-middleweight title twice between 2003 a ...
; in 2014, of Aboriginal artist and activist Richard Bell; in 2016 for Craig Campbell (see above); and in 2020, for his "Untitled self-portrait". He has been finalist for the
Sulman Prize The Sir John Sulman Prize is one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, having been established in 1936. It is now held concurrently with the Archibald Prize, Australia's best-known art prize, and also with the Wynne Prize, at the Art Galler ...
five times. In 2019 he won the inaugural Australian Muslim Artists Art Prize, and in the same year was shortlisted along with his brother Abdul-Rahman Abdullah to represent Australia in the 2019
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...
. His work ''A Terrible Burden'' was shortlisted for the 2020
Wynne Prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...
. In 2021, Abdullah was awarded a Marten Bequest Scholarship. A portrait of Abdullah by
Jasper Knight Jasper Knight (born 25 December 1978) is an Australian artist. He is the brother of writer and presenter Dominic Knight, and grandson of Sir H. M. Knight. Knight has been a finalist eight times in the Archibald Prize from 2005, 2006, 2007, 2 ...
was a finalist for the 2022
Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...
. In 2023, his work ''Legacy assets'' was selected as a finalist for the Ramsay Art Prize at the
Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...
. The work consisted of five panels of
oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...
, creating a panorama stretching wide, depicting landscape near Berrima, NSW. Intended as "a critique of the historical role of colonial Australian landscape painters", the work has the question "What would our public collections look like if we divested them of sex pests and paedophiles?" written in large capital letters over it.


Collections

Abdullah's works are represented in many significant galleries, including: *
Artbank Artbank is an Australian art rental program established in 1980 by the Australian Government. The program supports contemporary Australian Visual artists, artists by purchasing their Art, artworks and renting them to public and private sector cli ...
, a national art rental program *
Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...
, Perth * Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria * Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane *
Islamic Museum of Australia The Islamic Museum of Australia (IMA) is a community museum in Thornbury, Victoria, Thornbury, Melbourne, Australia. It began as a not-for-profit foundation founded in May 2010 with the purpose of establishing the first Islamic museum in Aus ...
, Melbourne *
Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its ...
, Melbourne *
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), formerly the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, is located on George Street, Sydney, George Street in The Rocks, Sydney, The Rocks neighbourhood of Sydney. The museum is housed in the Stripped Cl ...
(MCA), Sydney *
National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
, Canberra *
QAGOMA The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, colloquially known as QAGOMA, is an art museum in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It consists of the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), which is the main building, and a second gallery, the Gall ...
, Brisbane – ''Coming to terms'' (2015) *
University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...
, Perth


Selected exhibitions

His work has been included in many exhibitions, including: * Primavera exhibition at the MCA, Sydney (2015) * ''WA Focus'', at the
Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...
(2015) *
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is a contemporary visual and performance arts venue located in a heritage-listed building in Perth, Western Australia. History 1896–1959: Schools The building at 53 James Street, Northbridge, James ...
(2015) *
Asia Pacific Triennial The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) is an art museum located within the Queensland Cultural Centre in the South Bank precinct of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. Opened on 2 December 2006, the GOMA is Australia's l ...
at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane (2015) *
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art (ACCA) is a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. The gallery is located on Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, in the inner suburb of Southbank, Victoria, Southbank. Designed by W ...
, Melbourne (2016) *''Abdul Abdullah: Terms of Engagement'' (2017), a solo exhibition at the UNSW Galleries * Pataka Art + Museum, New Zealand (2017) *
Art Basel Hong Kong Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel (Switzerland), Miami Beach (US), Hong Kong and Paris. Art Basel provides a platform for galleries to show and sell their work to buyers, and ...
(2017, 2019) * Asia Now Art Fair, Paris (2017) * MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum,
Chiangmai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in Thailand. It is north of Bangkok in a mountainous region called the Thai hi ...
, Thailand (2019) * National Gallery of Australia, as part of ''Infinite Conversations'' (2019) * ''Violent Salt'', a touring exhibition (2019–2020) * Adelaide Biennial (2020) * The Armory Show, New York (2020), a solo exhibition, presented by Yavuz Gallery *
Gropius Bau Martin-Gropius-Bau, commonly known as Gropius Bau, is an important exhibition space in Berlin, Germany. Originally a museum of applied arts, the building has been a listed building, listed historical monument since 1966. It is located at 7 Nieder ...
, Berlin (2020) *''Land Abounds'', Ngununggula,
Bowral, New South Wales Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It is south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and the Southern Highl ...
(2022)


References


External links

* * Features both brothers in conversation with Daniel Browning, first 30 minutes. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah, Abdul 1986 births Living people Artists from Western Australia 21st-century Australian painters 21st-century Australian male artists Archibald Prize finalists Australian male painters Australian people of Malay descent Australian Muslims Curtin University alumni