To See or Not to See

Wiradjuri woman Karla Dickens brings a black humour to her interrogation of subjects such as race, gender and injustice, revealing her often raw pain along the way.

In this exhibition, Dickens’ studio self-portraits depict the artist in hoods with varying designs, acting as a reminder of the masking and oppression of recent Aboriginal experience.

“I’m not a politician; I’m an artist, a storyteller,” says Dickens. “With my art, I talk about my personal experiences. I don’t set out to make political statements. I am political simply because I am who I am – a single mother, a lesbian, a First Australian.”