VCA ART 2021

Adem Aquila

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drawing & Printmaking)

Contains course language.

My film essay, Sufferer, investigates the representation of suffering and pain in art. The work explores my own cognitive dissonance regarding the catharsis audiences may experience through empathising with such depictions and the often-simultaneous harm that can occur when personal anguish becomes romanticised, profitable or corrupted.


By removing a focus on structure, my contemplative approach seeks to evoke an interpretive response, reflecting the dilemma in encouraging artists to freely express pain through their work for therapeutic purposes; and the consequences in amplifying the appeal of suffering and pain in artists as valuable.


The film presents segmented explorations of this through a wide range of formats which shift between distinct mediums, styles, and attitudes.

Adem Aquila, Sufferer (Installation View), Still, 2021. Documentation by ALEC.
Adem Aquila, Sufferer (Installation View), Still, 2021. Documentation by ALEC.
Adem Aquila, Sufferer, Video, 2021.

We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which our campus is situated, the Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nations, who have created art, made music and told their stories here for thousands of generations. We also acknowledge and extend our respect to the Traditional Owners of all lands on which our work is viewed, shared and enjoyed, and to all Elders, past, present and emerging.

This website may contain sensitive or triggering content