Kate Just, Nell and Abdul-Rahman Abdullah
until 4 June 2023
Linden New Art has opened three new exhibitions featuring renowned artists Kate Just, Nell and Abdul-Rahman Abdullah. The exhibitions are open until 4 June at the iconic St Kilda gallery.
Kate Just: Self Care Action Series arose out of Just’s well-known social justice and feminist art practice and reflects the artist’s knitted meditation on actions required to sustain oneself to do challenging work in a confronting world. As a queer feminist, artist teacher, advocate, activist, and parent who dedicates a lot of time working in the art world and real-world contexts to generate social and political change, Just explores the radical history of self-care and its relevance to feminist practice by artists working for social change.
Just’s personal experience has been continuously shaping and informing the development of this series of work. Just says: “Each work is a simple prompt that I consider crucial for my own emotional survival and resilience and an invitation to others to imagine how they might prioritise caring for themselves. These are simple actions that are sometimes hard to do.
Beyond offering the means for taking care of myself as an artist and activist, they also are guiding me with simple reminders how it is possible to survive grief, global upheaval, family stress, and life changes. As I share these panels with others, I notice that a reminder to love and care for yourself is always welcome.”
Just is an American-born, Australian feminist artist best known for her inventive and political use of knitting. In addition to her solo practice, Just often works socially and collaboratively within communities to create large scale, public art projects that tackle significant social issues including sexual harassment and violence against women.
Nell: Sydney-based artist, Nell, is presenting three works as part of her exhibition, Old New Wave. Two of these works will be having their Melbourne debut, including a large-scale installation comprising of a life- size female bronze figure walking amongst 33 individual hand-blown glass ghost sculptures. The exhibition includes one new work tha
t is debuting at Linden, a large-scale installation of a metal tree growing out of the floor of the gallery.
Nell’s artistic practice is multifaceted and interdisciplinary, spanning across painting, sculpture, performance, installation, video, wearables, collaborations, community projects and public art. Underpinning all her work is an exploration of the thresholds of binary opposites such as the ancient and contemporary, individual and communal, feminine and masculine, and sacred and profane. From an Australian vantage point, she uses the language of art history, popular music and spiritual traditions to amplify the tensions and differences between these binary positions to create new objects and rituals.
Abdul-Rahman Abdullah: Abdullah is presenting a suite of three works titled Journeys, reflecting on passages of life complicated by the intersections of mythology, lived culture and the natural world. The exhibition includes two existing installations that will be having their Melbourne debut and a new work titled, I am your treasure. Framed by his Islamic faith, Abdullah’s exhibition aims to give informed clarity to make sense of the world that consists of contested nature and the stereotypes of that in modern- day Australia.
Abdullah works primarily in sculpture and installation, explores the intersections of identity, culture, and the natural world. Abdullah lives on Wadjuk Nyungar country in the Peel region of Western Australia. Living and working in this rural environment, his practice offers an alternative perspective across disparate communities.
Self Care Action Series, Old New Wave and Journeys showing now at Linden New Art until 4 June 2023.
Linden New Art
Bunurong, Boon Wurrung Country
26 Acland St , ST KILDA VIC 3182
Exhibition dates: 18 March – 4 June 2023
