Abdul Abdullah’s work interrogates otherness and Australian identity with a precision that has led to him being shortlisted many times for the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. While the potency of his art is constant, his approach is always shifting. Some works are photographic self-portraits, others are public installations of smiling faces or outstretched hands. In one 2022 piece he asked, in text painted across a 10m-wide canvas, what Australia’s public art collections would look like “if we divested them of sex pests and paedophiles”.
The Perth-born artist is now based in Bangkok, where he lives with his wife, the Bundjulung/Ngapuhi artist Amrita Hepi. He considers artworks – not his own pieces, but those made by friends and collaborators – to be his most prized possessions. Here he shares the story of one piece that hangs proudly at home and another lost, as well as the everyday item he relies on – even if TikTok tries to shame him for it.
