Biography
BIOGRAPHY
I am a Maldivian visual artist and art organiser based in Narrm (Melbourne), Australia. This positionality, being from another place, fuels curiosity about the places we call home and the human need to belong and be understood. Growing up in a creative family and shaped by socio-political events in Maldives, I create artwork as a way of making sense of the world and communicating with it.
I enjoy a diverse art practice that includes drawing, printmaking, digital media and video. These are often brought together in installations that play with the familiar and the abused to evoke curiosity and dialogue.
My current work critiques colonial mechanisms embedded in the construction of tourist representations of island destinations - a complex topic that is deeply personal and rich in possibilities for creating space for broader, more nuanced imaginations about tropical islands and their peoples.
In April 2021, I curated the first exhibition of Maldivian artists, titled "Here, There, Nowhere", centred on our connection to our home island, Male'. The exhibition was held at Blak Dot Gallery in Melbourne, Australia. I have also collaborated with the South Asian Avant-Garde Anthology (SAAG Anthology) to present a showcase of Maldivian artists on its online platform (May 2021). I have exhibited my art in the Maldives, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and across the Asia-Pacific region. I was one of 15 artists in the award-winning visual art project Locked-In (Fringe Festival 2018), curated by Kimba Thompson of Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne. I produce and sell handmade island-inspired jewellery and textile-based products under the moniker of Kudaingili (@kudaingili).
I earned a BA(Hons) in psychology from the University of Queensland before shifting focus to the arts, completing a Master of Creative Industries from Melbourne Polytechnic in 2020. I am currently pursuing a PhD in Fine Art at the Wominjeka Djeembana Lab within the Monash Art Design and Architecture Faculty, Monash University.
CV
kareen.adam@gmail.com @krunchykaree
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Site-Being Tours – public art performance and installation, Testing Grounds, 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
2023 Site-Being Tours – public art performance and installation, Testing Grounds, 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