'Bird Head Girl' (Pink)

Bird Head Girl (Pink)
(2026)
29 x 21 x 0.8 cm

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The Bedazzles are part of a larger series reclaiming the stereotype that, as an Aboriginal artist, I am expected to make a particular kind of art or adopt a traditional dot-painting style. Influenced by ‘Aboriginalia’, a term coined by Tony Albert, and the visual world of Mardi Gras, I transform cheap and found materials into objects that are camp, joyful, kitsch and fabulously over-the-top.

The use of fake jewels also rejects the environmental and human costs associated with real diamonds, turning decoration into another small act of resistance. Featuring Blak symbols alongside beloved women and divas such as Kylie Minogue and Nicole Kidman, the series is ultimately about joy, femininity and reclamation. The works become vibrant, sparkly tributes to my cultural and personal icons.

This technique is a subversive response to the expectation that Aboriginal artists must conform to a particular visual style. Bedazzling becomes a playful act of defiance, allowing me to embrace happiness, identity and humour as ways of resisting
those expectations. The works are unapologetically joyful, using excess, glamour and kitsch to reclaim how Aboriginal identity can be represented.
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Aretha Brown
Gumbaynggirr Peoples

Please note:
All artworks are professionally packed and shipped through local art handlers.
Please allow up to 2 weeks from the closing of 'BORN ROMANTIC' (04/10/26) for artwork delivery around metropolitan Melbourne.