Visual arts graduate Alanah Kent’s surreal pop culture paintings exploring identity are part of a major exhibition in Perth this month.
Alanah’s paintings, completed as part of their Bachelor of Creative Arts – Visual Arts Honours course with TAFE SA and Flinders University, have been included in the 2024 Hatched: National Graduate Show.
Presented by the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), the exhibition celebrates Australia’s most exciting emerging artists, with artworks on display until 13 October.
Alanah’s colourful artworks, entitled the Inner Joy Series, are a “celebration of self”.
Comprising three large paintings on MDF, the Inner Joy Series consists of Plane Head, Flower Tits and Hat of Many Eyes (pictured), each embellished with craft materials such as glitter, googly eyes and rhinestones.
“I’d recently received an Autism diagnosis and I also had come out as queer, so bisexual and non-binary, and I thought, ‘how about I do a year exploration of that, but the joy of that’,” they say.
“I wanted to do something that was fun and joyous and enabled me to play with the materials in a way that was enjoyable for me but also worked for the work.
“In my Bachelor year (at UniSA), I was doing printmaking, and it was quite a serious work, so I wanted a shift of mindset to focus on joyful works.”
Alanah (pictured right) created about 50 small collages with meticulous detailing which provided inspiration for the Inner Joy Series, with favourite elements included in the paintings, the largest of which – Plane Head – measures 160cm x 134cm.
“It was quite confronting when I first saw them on the wall because they are large but I love seeing people’s reaction to the works, each one has little elements that are playful,” they say.
Alanah studied animation and comic illustration and worked in customer service roles for several years, before deciding to pursue an interest in visual arts with a Bachelor at UniSA.
They say returning to complete the Honours program with Flinders University and TAFE SA in 2023 has been a positive experience and inclusion in the Helpmann Graduate Show and PICA’s Hatched has provided extra motivation.
With a renewed focus, Alanah plans to establish a professional arts practice and is using their upcoming 40th birthday in 2025 as inspiration for the next project.
“I’ll be exploring the moments in the existence of Alanah and how they’ve helped shape who I am at 40,” they say.
“I really like playing with the idea of identity because I’ve had so much trouble with it and then once it all clicked I thought, ‘OK, I know my identity now, let’s have fun and play with it’.
“I’m hoping people can relate to the work. I’d like my artworks to be part of that affirmative language to help people feel comfortable and good about themselves.”