Art After Dark: 3 Video Works by Atong Atem

Posted: Wed 28 Jul

 

Ego 2, Atong Atem, 2019, Ilford smooth pearl print, 60 x 90 cm, edition of 10 + 2 AP
'Ego 2,' Atong Atem, 2019, Ilford smooth pearl print, 60 x 90 cm, edition of 10 + 2 AP



Header Image: Ego 1, Atong Atem, 2019, Ilford smooth pearl print, 60 x 90 cm, edition of 10 + 2 AP 

 

Atong Atem continues her exploration of identity and culture through the creation of surreal and fantastical environments. Faces are physically obscured through vibrant use of colour that showcases individuality and allows her subjects to exist in a futuristic yet idealistic space. Atem invites viewers to contemplate how their identity exists in the world and the ways in which we construct images and stories to understand ourselves and our surroundings. 

  • Her Skin is a Mountain, Atong Atem, 2016, four channel video, 3.08 
  • Untitled, Atong Atem, 2018, Single channel video, 2.47 
  • Untitled Project, Atong Atem, 2018, single channel video, 4.34 

 

Atong Atem’s three video works will be presented on the Bunjil Place Outdoor Screen as part of the ART AFTER DARK program.  

31 July – 29 August, 6pm – 7pm daily 

 

ATONG ATEM 

Atong Atem is an Ethiopian born, South Sudanese artist and writer living in Narrm/ Melbourne. Atem’s work explores the inherent intimacy of portraiture and photography as well as the role photographers take as story tellers. 

Atem interrogates photography as a framework for looking at the world and positioning people in it. She takes framing into a fantastical direction with the small portals over the subjects’ faces, inviting the viewer to look at them through a surreal and constructed lens.  

She references the works of photographers Malick Sidibe, Philip Kwame Apagya and Seydou Keita to create a visual representation of a relationship to culture. She works primarily with photography and video to explore migrant narratives and postcolonial practices in the African diaspora, the relationship between public and private spaces and the exploration of home and identity through portraiture.  

Atong Atem has exhibited her work across Australia, including MUMA Monash, Gertrude Contemporary, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and internationally at Messums in London, Red Hook Labs in New York, Vogue Fashion Fair in Milan and Unseen Amsterdam Art Fair. Atem was the recipient of the inaugural National Gallery of Victoria and MECCA M-Power scholarship in 2017 as well as the Brisbane Powerhouse Melt Portrait Prize in 2016.  

Atem was recently featured in the NGV Triennial, exhibited a major body of work at the Immigration Museum, Melbourne as part of the inaugural Photo 2021 and unveiled a new video work titled Banksia as part of RISING festival in May 2021. 

 

Atong Atem is represented by MARS Gallery, Melbourne 

 

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