Collectively, they characterize what Dickens sees because the “good visible diary” of a 30-year follow that modified his life after a troubled adolescence marked by drug dependancy.

“I got here out of rehab in my early twenties and shortly after with the assistance of my buddies utilized to the Nationwide College of the Arts. I got here to the very best jail on this nation (the place NAS former Darlinghurst jail is) that helped save my life.

“Artwork is lifesaving and nonetheless is. So the work on this present is an enormous a part of the present, coping with private points that have an effect on me, generational trauma, the setting. I joined Greenpeace once I was 20. I simply survived a pure catastrophe.”

Artwork, he says, is figure and remedy. He discovered solace within the studio after the Lismore flood. “The very first thing I did was Breaking a Report there are additionally research on drought, fires, bleaching of corals, extinction of koalas, research on mining. And I can proceed to create on this sequence fairly simply.

Two of his most up-to-date main research, each of that are interrelated, stand out within the survey.

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First monster Theatres, A big-scale set up for the 2020 Adelaide Australian Artwork Biennale that references stereotypes of circus performers and touring carnivals.

Impressed by the lifetime of Irish Aboriginal tightrope walker Con Colleano from Lismore, who carried out within the early 1900s. Dickens obtained his supplies for this workgroup from outdated amusement parks and sideshow collectors, the native tip store, and souvenirs from various supporting artwork lovers.

Second, A Dickens CircusIt was created for NIRIN, the twenty second Sydney Biennale, for the entry of AGNSW.

Previous chook cages positioned on pedestals include feminine statues, clown masks, feathered figures and doll faces. The examine harks again to the nineteenth century “human zoos” of First Nations folks.

Trying again, Dickens says the depth and private nature of his work remained fixed, and sadly the issues didn’t change. Questions on feminine id and racial injustice underscore all she has created “as a result of I am nonetheless affected by these points”.

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“I take pleasure in attempting completely different supplies and methods. Hats off to artists who can use the identical supplies for 30 years.”

“I’m way more relaxed within the artwork of meeting. The circus enterprise took to the following stage the place it turned a part of the sculptural masonry. Thus, the quantity of collage and assemblage has been moved to a extra dense and altering house that features sculpture.”

Half of the works exhibited have been taken from the artist. Dickens has at all times reserved the very best works of every sequence as “retirement”.

“It is nice to see all of them collectively. I am not stunned there are such a lot of research, and this is a wonderful visible diary of my final 30 years on the planet.”

Embracing Shadows might be on show on the Campbelltown Arts Middle from January 3 to March 12, 2023.

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