KARLA DICKENS

A Wiradjuri woman living in regional New South Wales, Karla Dickens is known for her often provocative reflections on Australian culture, past and present. Combining and repurposing material elements in unexpected ways, she takes on a three-tiered politic of marginalised identity, frequently tackling issues of race, gender and sexuality.

The lives and abuse of Indigenous women in this country have had so little light shone on them.

and concepts, including slippery ones that may be difficult to quite grasp singularly. At the centre of her practice is the sense of coming home to difficult truths. At times she can be controversial. For example, in her 2013 artwork (winner of the 2013 NSW Parliament of NSW Aboriginal Art Prize) she embroidered an Australian flag (found at the Lismore tip) with a series of black crosses, transforming the object into a symbol of mourning and Indigenous remembrance. Other works are marked by an intrinsic playfulness and whimsy to the point visited Dickens at home in Lismore, NSW.