Biography
Kareen Adam is a Maldivian visual artist and art organiser based in Narrm (Melbourne), Australia. Her work explores the complexities of living between cultures and countries by addressing notions of home, belonging and cultural identity. Kareen has a diverse art practice that includes printmaking, drawing, painting, digital media and video. Her visual language is heavily influenced by the colours, patterns and shapes of her life in the Maldives, and the Maldivian socio-political landscape. Her current work focuses on critiquing colonial mechanisms embedded in the construction of tourist representations of island destinations. This examination led to a multi-disciplinary artwork titled "Real Holidays Travel Agency Ptv Ltd" in 2020 which subverted tourism marketing mediums (including a website) to create a space for broader, and personal interpretations of tourist island destinations.
Kareen is an active advocate for Maldivian artists which has led her to curating and directing art events both in Maldives and Australia. In April 2021 she curated the first exhibition of Maldivian artists titled "Here, There, Nowhere", centred around the connection to their home island - Male'. The exhibition was shown at Blak Dot Gallery, in Melbourne, Australia. She has also collaborated with the South Asian Avant Guard Anthology (SAAG Anthology) to present a showcase of Maldivian artists on their online platform (May 2021). Kareen has worked as the co-director of the Maldives Whale Shark Festival (2015), gallery manager for Kids in Mind Art Gallery, Mater Child Youth Mental Health Service, Brisbane (2009-2013), amongst other collaborations with artists and NGOs in Maldives and Australia. She has exhibited her art in Maldives, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and the Asia Pacific region, and was one of the 15 artists in the award-winning visual art project Locked-In (Fringe Festival 2018), curated by Kimba Thompson of Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne.
Kareen completed a BA(Hons) in psychology from University of Queensland, following which she switched pathways to the arts completing Master of Creative Industries from Melbourne Polytechnic in 2020. She is currently a PhD (Fine Art) Candidate at the Wominjeka Djeembana Lab at Monash Art Design and Architecture Faculty, Monash University.
CV
kareen.adam@gmail.com
Solo Exhibitions
2022 Whoes IsLand Is it Anyway?, Wandering Room, Brunswick
2020 Real Holidays Travel Agency Pty Ltd, street exhibition, Collingwood, VIC https://linktr.ee/KareenAdam
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Perspectives Exhibition, Melbourne Design Week curated by Collective Futures
2022 Barreeng Yirramboi, MADA Gallery, Monash, Caufield
2021 Here, There, Nowhere, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2020 JUNKHORIZON, Maldives Coral Festival 2020, Avahteri Gallery, Thulusdhoo, Maldives
2019 Circular: The Summer Show, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2019 Blak Dot Artists Market, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2019 Small Works Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2018 CRITICAL MASS: LOCKED-IN, Blak Dot Gallery for Melbourne Fringe 2018, Brunswick, VIC (Fringe award winner)
2018 Blak Dot Artist Market, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2017 Maldives Festival of the Arts 2017, National Gallery, Male’ Maldives
2016 Disrupt 2016 – An Exhibition of Print Culture, Jugglers Art Space, QLD
2014 The Art and Craft Bazaar 2014, Male', Maldives
2012 Vie de Pacific - Pacific Life (2012-2014), Pacific Perimeter Print Exchange, touring exhibition, QLD, Australia & abroad
2012 Petrichor - Graduate art exhibition for Diploma of Visual Art, Southbank Institute of Technology, QLD
2011 The Round Up, Art Factory Gallery, South Brisbane, QLD
2011 Impress Printmakers’ Annual Members Exhibition, Circle Gallery, West End, QLD
2010 Convergence/Divergence: International Prints Exchange Exhibition, Hong Kong Graphic Arts Fiesta 2010, Hong Kong (various venues)
Conferences / Symposiums
2023 Conversations with Extractivism 2023 (Presenter), Shared Campus/Monash University (link)
2022 MTalks (MPavilion Podcast) - Wish You Were Here: Shifting the Tourist Gaze - Kareen Adam and Manal Mohamed in conversation with Helen Runting (link)
2022 Barreeng Yirramboi Symposium (Panelist), Monash University, VIC (link).
2021 Ngarnga-Dha (Hearing/Listening) Research Symposium (Presenter), Monash University, VIC
2022 Whoes IsLand Is it Anyway?, Wandering Room, Brunswick
2020 Real Holidays Travel Agency Pty Ltd, street exhibition, Collingwood, VIC https://linktr.ee/KareenAdam
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Perspectives Exhibition, Melbourne Design Week curated by Collective Futures
2022 Barreeng Yirramboi, MADA Gallery, Monash, Caufield
2021 Here, There, Nowhere, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2020 JUNKHORIZON, Maldives Coral Festival 2020, Avahteri Gallery, Thulusdhoo, Maldives
2019 Circular: The Summer Show, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2019 Blak Dot Artists Market, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2019 Small Works Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2018 CRITICAL MASS: LOCKED-IN, Blak Dot Gallery for Melbourne Fringe 2018, Brunswick, VIC (Fringe award winner)
2018 Blak Dot Artist Market, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, VIC
2017 Maldives Festival of the Arts 2017, National Gallery, Male’ Maldives
2016 Disrupt 2016 – An Exhibition of Print Culture, Jugglers Art Space, QLD
2014 The Art and Craft Bazaar 2014, Male', Maldives
2012 Vie de Pacific - Pacific Life (2012-2014), Pacific Perimeter Print Exchange, touring exhibition, QLD, Australia & abroad
2012 Petrichor - Graduate art exhibition for Diploma of Visual Art, Southbank Institute of Technology, QLD
2011 The Round Up, Art Factory Gallery, South Brisbane, QLD
2011 Impress Printmakers’ Annual Members Exhibition, Circle Gallery, West End, QLD
2010 Convergence/Divergence: International Prints Exchange Exhibition, Hong Kong Graphic Arts Fiesta 2010, Hong Kong (various venues)
Conferences / Symposiums
2023 Conversations with Extractivism 2023 (Presenter), Shared Campus/Monash University (link)
2022 MTalks (MPavilion Podcast) - Wish You Were Here: Shifting the Tourist Gaze - Kareen Adam and Manal Mohamed in conversation with Helen Runting (link)
2022 Barreeng Yirramboi Symposium (Panelist), Monash University, VIC (link).
2021 Ngarnga-Dha (Hearing/Listening) Research Symposium (Presenter), Monash University, VIC