Atong Atem arrived in Australia at age six from a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. The abundance of art supplies in her new school was a wonderland: ‘It was from one world to another, I was just blown away’. Now 35, Atem has built an international career, with works shown at London’s Tate Modern, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam.
The NGV survey, co-curated by Anna Honan, presents works such as ‘Ego 2’ (2019), in which Atem painted her face blue to reference the poetic description of blue-black skin in Black literature. ‘Skin becomes a character,’ she writes in the show notes. ‘Choosing to engage with that through colour and stylisation becomes a conscious act.’
The ‘Banksia’ series, created for the Immigration Museum in 2021, reflects Atem’s collaborative approach: she photographs friends and members of her community, breaking down the power dynamics of the studio, says Honan.
One of the exhibition’s centrepieces is ‘Scars and Constellations’, a series made for the Amsterdam museum’s ‘Shadows on the Atlantic’ show. Atem describes the site, a former Dutch East India Company shipyard, as ‘literally part of the whole mechanism of colonialism’. The works consider how water, often a symbol of renewal, also carries histories of violence, Honan notes.
Atem’s work is deeply political. She questions whether Australia can be considered post-colonial: ‘The colonial powers arrived and stayed and didn’t relinquish power.’ Since becoming a mother, she thinks more about the legacy her children will inherit. ‘What’s the dialogue that they then pick up from? And is it fair? Is it truthful? Is it reasonable?’
The survey also includes the Tarot-inspired series ‘This Happened to You’ and a large wall installation ‘As Above’, which weaves together Dinka dance, beading, and Catholic iconography.
A solo exhibition is planned for Sydney next year. Atem, who now works full-time as an artist, says her creative brain is ‘on steroids’ even if she is physically tired from caring for young children.