The Newcastle Art Gallery Youth Advisory Group acknowledges the Awabakal and Worimi people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and live, and pay our deepest respects to Elders past, present and future. The Youth Advisory Group is dedicated to honouring the culture and traditions of our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities through the visual arts.

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Y2C

Abdul-Rahman Abdullah

NAG Collection Artist

Abdul-Rahman Abdullah is an Australian artist whose practice explores the intersections of identity, culture and nature. Working primarily in sculpture and installation, his work has been described as magic realism, creating poetic interventions with the space it occupies.

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.

Abdul-Rahman has exhibited his work at institutions across Australia including Museum of Contemporary Art, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Art Gallery and Pataka Art + Museum (NZ).

Jaimie Carpenter's thoughts on Abdullah's 'The men who sold lies' - “At first glance this piece appears to be something that it isn't, much in the same way as Lycett's paintings.”