Stars and scars: the art of Atong Atem at the NGV – in pictures
Sahara, from the series To Be Real, 2020
Atem is celebrated for her dynamic and vibrant photographic self-portraits that explore identity, myth-making and intergenerational storytelling
Scar 7, from the series Scars and Constellations, 2024
In her vivid self-portraits, Atem is both subject and storyteller, embodying generations of memory and tradition
Our Neighbour Was a Witch, from the Surat series, 2022
Transforming herself through textiles, paint, costume and symbolic objects, Atem uses her body as a vessel to explore themes of race, gender and colonialism, as well as the beauty and resilience of her Dinka Bor culture and Melbourne’s African diaspora
Men in This Town 01, from the series Men in This Town, 2024
Her practice interrogates how identity is performed, both in everyday life and before the camera, creating images in which history, memory and imagination intertwine
The Bride Wore Pearls 1, from the series Surat, 2022
The exhibition conceptually and spatially explores ideas of movement and journeys – global themes brought to life through Atem’s personal experience of migration
What We Are Given, 2024
Born in Ethiopia to South Sudanese parents, Atem and her family made their home in Australia in 1997
Celestial Cartography, from the series Scars and Constellations, 2024
Through her work, Atem links continents and generations, honouring the cultural stories and memories that have endured displacement and war
Men in This Town 07, from the series Men in This Town, 2024
Of the exhibition, Atem said:‘If the body is a terrain, who gets to be the geographer and who becomes the cartographer? My practice as an early career artist has sought to make signposts on the body as a politicised landscape; to document, archive and speculate. These tensions between heritage, identity and place are at the crux of my impulse to make art’
Paanda, from the Studio series, 2015
In Dinka Bor culture, names are not owned individually; they are inherited to honour ancestors. Atem’s photographs embody this idea, acting as visual relics that unite a family across time and space
A Yellow Dress, A Bouquet 3, from the A Yellow Dress, A Bouquet series, 2022
The exhibition includes world-premiere and Australian-premiere works, alongside series presented in their entirety for the first time
Constellation 3, from the series Scars and Constellations, 2024
The exhibition includes the Australian premiere of Scars and Constellations, commissioned by the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam
Josephine Margaret Bakhita, from the series Surat, 2022
Surat examines the mythological aspects of portraiture through family photographs. Atem recreates portraits of relatives known to her only through images, using herself as a bridge for memory and ancestral links
Henna 1, from the Banksia series, 2021
In Banksia Atem turns her lens towards African, African American and Caribbean convicts and free settlers who arrived with the first fleet. The work prompts audiences to reconsider the foundations of Australian identity
Scar 2, from the Scars and Constellations series 2024
Scars and Constellations explores the complex relationship between sea, sky and the histories of colonial trade and navigation. Central to the series is scarification, a Dinka Bor cultural practice carrying deep meaning in identity, ritual and healing that is also layered with the histories of conflict
As Above, 2026
This large-scale wall installation is a world-premiere exclusive commission exploring the stories held in the skies and constellations, weaving together Dinka dance, traditional beading and Catholic iconography. The work also references the astronomical concept of the false cross, which are groupings of stars that mimic the Southern Cross. The work explores how we position ourselves within vast cosmic, historical, cultural systems that surround and shape us
I Have Two of Everything 1, from the series Surat, 2022
Atem’s work has been exhibited widely across Australia and internationally, including at the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, London’s Tate Modern and Victoria and Albert Museum, Rotterdam’s Wereldmuseum, Shanghai’s Fotografiska and Saarbrücken’sStadtgalerie
Red Dust Sticks to You, 2022
A fully illustrated new monograph produced in partnership with Thames & Hudson Australia will be published to coincide with the exhibition. The book includes essays by Osei Bonsu, Jorge M Pérez, Clothilde Morette; reflections from Atem Yaak Atem and Anna Abul Malual Aguer; an interview with the artist and Natasha Bullock and Anna Honan; and an afterword by Tony Ellwood
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