Abdul Abdullah is a multi-disciplinary artist and five-time Archibald finalist with a highly distinctive practice. A self-described ‘outsider amongst outsiders’ with a post 9/11 mindset, his practice is primarily concerned with the experience of the ‘other’. Identifying as a Muslim and having both Malay/Indonesian and convict/settler Australian heritage, Abdul occupies a precarious space in the political discourse. Abdul has been exhibiting since 2008 in major solo and group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally. His work is held in numerous collections including the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Australia and Artbank, Sydney.
Through two visions of the weretiger, Abdul’s tapestries Watched but not seen and Surveilled are concerned with the experience of the ‘other’, and the difference between the perception of a person’s identity and the reality of their lived actions and beliefs.
