14 Facts About Abdul Abdullah

Abdul Abdullah was born on 1986 and is a Sydney-based Australian multidisciplinary artist, the younger brother of Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, an artist.

Abdul Abdullah has been a finalist several times in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes.

Abdul Abdullah creates provocative works that make political statements and query identity, in particular looking at being a Muslim in Australia, and examines the themes of alienation and othering.

Abdul Abdullah graduated from Curtin University in Perth in 2008, and went on to complete an Master of Fine Arts at UNSW Art and Design in Sydney in 2017.

Abdul Abdullah's memories include witnessing a man tearing his mother's hijab from her head.

In June 2020 Abdullah participated in a project called 52 Actions at Artspace in Sydney, in which he documented his own text-based tattoos in a series of photographs, accompanied by a written piece explaining how each serves to remind him of his political principles.

Abdul Abdullah has worked with various marginalised minority groups, and has a special interest in how young Australian Muslims experience multiculturalism in Australia.

Abdul Abdullah engages with other creatives throughout the Asia Pacific region, and admires the work of Tracey Moffatt.

Abdul Abdullah holds a mirror up to a social landscape that we all understand, exposing the dynamics of power that we consume and enact.

Abdul Abdullah has encountered negative reactions to his work sometimes, but has received positive responses for the same work, such as from military veterans for his Violent Salt works, which opened a discussion on the poor treatment of veterans.

In 2011 Abdullah won the Blake Prize for Human Justice, for his photographic self-portrait entitled "Them and Us" of himself and his brother, for which he especially got a tattoo of the Southern Cross placed around an Islamic crescent moon and star.

Abdul Abdullah has been finalist for the Sulman Prize five times.

In 2019 he won the inaugural Australian Muslim Artists Art Prize, and in the same year was shortlisted along with his brother Abdul-Rahman Abdullah to represent Australia in the 2019 Venice Biennale.

Abdul Abdullah's work has been included in many exhibitions, including:.