Dead Centre

Dead Centre was an exhibition of photographic and video works created between 2008 and 2016 by ten artists/artist groups from across Australia. In these works, the artists brought viewers into their own worlds and revealed their personal experiences navigating their identity alongside social and cultural expectations. Portraiture and self-portraiture formed the basis of the works, with many of the artists taking centre stage in their images. In addition to a central figure, the artworks employed structural devices, such as masking, actions, gestures and symbols, which metaphorically illustrated the artists’ way of navigating between worlds.

Artists featured in this exhibition came from a number of different backgrounds and communities in Australia, including Aboriginal, Polynesian, Persian, Thai, Greek, Italian, Malay, LGBTIQ and Muslim. Their works raised important questions relevant to contemporary Australian society and the experiences of marginalised people in Australia, including: how do we understand ourselves and others; how do we understand what it means to be Australian; who gets to determine what it means to be Australian and who is considered Australian; and how does popular culture and mass media influence our understandings?

Dead Centre was curated by West Australian artists and curators Anna Louise Richardson and Abdul-Rahman Abdullah