VCA ART 2021

Arthur Nyakuengama

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drawing & Printmaking)

My work examines relationships between material and body, between body and desire, between desire and material. Looking at the ways in which materials such as fabric or leather are used to signal identity to others in the know, my practice is an exploration of the communication encoded in the ways we furnish our homes and bodies.

Incorporating coded aesthetics into art objects, I explore how materials speak to the absent body and become sites of queer communication and desire. Through a process of extracting and re-encoding these material languages, I deepen my understanding of their functions and histories. My work is the output of this process, the physical artefacts of my enquiries and tests of legibility.

Arthur Nyakuengama, Indoors (installation view), Leather and steel armchair, shoulder-length latex gloves, latex polish, curtains, Dimensions variable, 2021. Documentation by ALEC.
Arthur Nyakuengama, Nailed, Lambskin leather, eyelets, cotton thread, bullet and flat head nails, 89 x 79 cm, 2021. Documentation by ALEC.
Arthur Nyakuengama, Top, Blackwash denim, satin, polycotton thread, 2021. Documentation by Callum Reily.
Arthur Nyakuengama, Top (detail), Blackwash denim, satin, polycotton thread, 2021. Documentation by Callum Reily.
Arthur Nyakuengama, Fold, Satin, polycotton thread, canvas stretcher, 2021. Documentation by Callum Reily.
Arthur Nyakuengama, Fold (detail), Satin, polycotton thread, canvas stretcher, 2021. Documentation by Callum Reily.
Arthur Nyakuengama, Stitching, Video with audio from "Leather" by Hardy Haberman, 1995, 2021.
Arthur Nyakuengama, Clasp, Blackwash denim, polycotton thread, cotton wadding, wooden board, carabiner, 2021. Documentation by Callum Reily.

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.

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