Abdul-Rahman Abdullah

Abdul-Rahman Abdullah is an Australian artist whose practice explores the different ways that memory can inhabit and emerge from familial spaces. Drawing on the narrative capacity of animal archetypes, crafted objects and the human presence, Abdullah aims to articulate physical dialogues between the natural world, politics and the agency of culture.

While his own experiences as a Muslim Australian of mixed ethnicity provide a starting point, Abdullah negotiates shared understandings of individual identity, new mythologies and marginalised outlooks in a multicultural context.

Living and working in rural Western Australia, Abdullah provides a unique perspective across intersecting and disparate communities. Working primarily in sculpture and installation, his work has been described as magic realism, creating poetic interventions with the space it occupies.

Abdullah says of this work:

'The King Is Dead looks at the idea of eulogising a cycle of ascendancy whether in life or art. I wanted to represent the act of winning and losing in a single object, positing the act itself as a catalyst for change that in essence stays the same. The bronze crown has been shot with a .44 calibre bullet, creating a very neat entry point and a violently ruptured exit. The wooden cushion is intended to create the illusion of something soft and luxurious that is actually static and sealed into history.'

© Abdul-Rahman Abdullah