Karla Dickens

Karla Dickens (born 2 December 1967) is an Aboriginal Australian installation artist of the Wiradjuri people, based in Lismore, New South Wales. Her works are in major public collections in Australia.

Early life and education Dickens was born on 2 December 1967 in Sydney and lived in several suburbs. Her father worked on the wharves and drove trucks. Her mother was a factory worker. She was close to her grandmother, who lived in Mascot, where a group of Aboriginal people taken off their land had settled. Her grandmother married a German immigrant who promised her a house, and Dickens' father was their only child. Her grandparents were important influences, and her grandfather started her on her journey to re-use found materials. Dickens is of Wiradjuri heritage. At this time she had a daughter, and found living in regional Australia affordable. She was also in Bundjalung country and found the Aboriginal community welcoming.

Also in 2017 Dickens' work was featured in The National: New Australian Art exhibition sponsored by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Carriageworks in Sydney. Her work Bound comprised six straight jackets she had dyed and then embellished with various found items, including human hair, combs and monkey teeth. For her, each represented why women stay in abusive relationships. In Fight Club she installed six metal lids from trash bins, and inscribed on them her own poetry.

In March 2020 the Art Gallery of New South Wales commissioned Dickens to create a work for a niche in its portico that has remained empty since it was built. The previous commission for a panel by sculptor Dora Ohlfsen was cancelled in 1913. Her work, A Dickensian Circus, was on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the Biennale of Sydney in December 2020.

Art practice Dickens lives and practises her art in Goonellabah, Lismore, New South Wales.

She is known for works that offer reflections on Australian culture past and present. She repurposes materials in unexpected ways and often addresses issues of race, sexuality, and gender. Dickens is a weaver, embroiderer of fabrics and creative user of various materials.

Some of her works project whimsy and mischief.

Recognition and awards In 2013, Dickens won the 2013 Parliament of NSW Aboriginal Art Prize, worth , for January 26, Day of Mourning.

In 2018, she won the inaugural Copyright Agency Fellowship for Visual Art, worth , to support her production of a new multimedia installation, A Dickensian Circus, celebrating Indigenous boxers and Lismore acrobat Cornelius Sullivan.

A portrait of Dickens titled Moby Dickens, by Blak Douglas, won the 2022 Archibald Prize.

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions "Karla Dickens, 'Cross'", 24 May - 21 June, DQ on Oxford Gallery, year unknown

"A selection of Paintings and Lithographs from Karla Dickens", 30 May - 30 June, The Bank Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney, year unknown

"Now Nowhere Here", Karla Dickens, 3–17 July 2000, DQ Gallery, Oxford Street, Taylor Square

"Unwind: An exhibition of recent paintings by Karla Dickens", 3–20 October 2001, A - Space on Cleveland, Surry Hills, Sydney

"Love, Luck and Lust - Karla Dickens", September 2003, A - Space on Cleveland, Surry Hills, Sydney

"Karla Dickens: Field and Game" , 29 September - 24 October 2012, The Hughes Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney

"Karla Dickens: Black Dogs, Love and Crutches, 6 May - 6 June 2015, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Bowen Hills, Queensland

"Karla Dickens: Black and Blue", 14 September - 15 October 2016, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Bowen Hills, Queensland

"Karla Dickens: Lucky Bastards and Fast Food", 11 April - 12 May 2018, Baker Art Dealer, Bowen Hills, Queensland

"Karla Dickens: SOS", 18 November - 19 December 2020, Baker Art Dealer, Bowen Hills, Queensland

"Karla Dickens: Loving Memory", 13 June - 12 July 2008, Lismore Regional Gallery, NSW

"Karla Dickens", 2–13 September 2008, Iain Dawson Gallery, Paddington NSW

Group exhibitions "C.O.P." Works by Shaun Gladwell, Karla Dickens, Cal Foote, 25 August - 15 September 1995 "'No Limits': Recent Paintings by Karla Dickens/Art from Arnhem Land/ DIDI presents Art and Artefacts from the Torres Strait Islands", Hogarth Galleries, Paddington 1998 2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia, titled "Monster Theatres" National Gallery of Australia National Portrait Gallery University of Canberra

Footnotes