Karla Dickens is an artist of Wiradjuri, Irish and German heritage, living and working in Goonellabah, Lismore, on Bundjalung Country in New South Wales. Through her multidisciplinary practice – spanning painting, photography, video, collage, sculpture and installation – Dickens brings a black humour to her unflinching interrogation of subjects such as race, gender and injustice. Described as a 'found-object' virtuoso, her practice often places overlooked or discarded objects into new contexts to interrogate Australian culture, contest histories and agitate for change.
Dickens graduated from the National Art School, Sydney, with a Diploma of Fine Arts in 1993 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2000. She has exhibited throughout Australia and abroad since the early 1990s. Recent significant exhibitions include Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2017); The National 2017: New Australian Art, Carriageworks, Sydney (2017); Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2020); 22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN (2020). In 2023 Dickens major survey exhibition Embracing Shadows opened at Campbelltown Arts Centre, spanning thirty years of practice. Dickens’ work is held in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Museum of Australia, National Portrait Gallery, National Art School, Australian Museum, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.
The Black Virgin
2009
Mixed media
110 × 110 cm
A Dickensian Circus
2023
installation view
Photograph: Felicity Jenkins
Keep smiling V
2022
Mixed media
65 × 65 cm
A Dickensian Circus
2023
installation view
Photograph: Felicity Jenkins
Embracing Shadows
2023
installation view
Photograph: Document Photography
Embracing Shadows
2023
installation view
Photograph: Document Photography
Embracing Shadows
2023
installation view
Photograph: Document Photography
Looking at you VI
2017
Inkjet print
100 x 100cm
Image credit: Mick Richards
Embracing Shadows
2023
installation view
Photograph: Document Photography
Embracing Shadows
2023
installation view
Photograph: Document Photography
A Dickensian Country Show
2020
mixed materials
dimensions variable
Eight in one night
2020
Mixed media
64 × 64 cm
Hoofs and horns
2021
Mixed media
120 × 180 cm
Hard-hitting sister
2019
Inkjet print
120 × 80 cm
Pound 4 pound
2019
Inkjet print
58 × 48 cm