KARLA DICKENS (NSW)

Karla Dickens is Wiradjuri. Born in Sydney in 1967, the same year as the historic Referendum recognising the existence of Aboriginal people in their own country, known as Australia. Dickens’ process of self-discovery, expressed through both hardship and humour, was also a journey to understanding her Aboriginal heritage life.

A careful collector of racially and sexually charged memorabilia, and other found objects, Dickens is a caretaker over material cultures that haunt. Primarily her works investigate her own intersected identities of being Aboriginal, gay and a single mother. Dickens has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and abroad since the early 1990s and her work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, National Museum of Australia, Australian National Maritime Museum, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Artbank, Sydney, Artspace Mackay and Bendigo Art Gallery.