Nathan Beard
Born Perth WA, 1987
Lives and works in Perth I Boorloo
Lives and works in Perth I Boorloo
Nathan Beard draws upon his Australian-Thai heritage to create works across a wide range of mediums, including photography, sculpture, installation and video. Using his family history and archives, his practice explores the universal themes of culture, memory, mortality and identity. His work offers a unique and personal articulation of the complexities surrounding diasporic identity.
Nathan’s recent series of sensitively created photographs featuring his family members have been embellished with crystals and rhinestones in a manner that references both death masks and haute couture. In an inimitable way, Nathan brings kitsch, humour and gravity to these works, allowing them both a lightness and an impact that speaks to the slipperiness of memory and history.
For over a decade, Nathan has exhibited widely, including at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA), Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane and Firstdraft, Sydney. He has been awarded several international residencies and undertook the Australia Council Residency at ACME Studios, London in 2022. He has been a finalist in the John Stringer Prize, Fremantle Art Centre Print Award, Churchie National Emerging Art Prize and the Ramsay Art Prize. His work is held in notable public art collections including Artbank, Murdoch University Art Collection, AGWA and the Curtin University Art Collection. In 2022, he presented a major solo exhibition, A Puzzlement, at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) and was the recipient of the Minderoo Artist Fund Award.
Nathan’s recent series of sensitively created photographs featuring his family members have been embellished with crystals and rhinestones in a manner that references both death masks and haute couture. In an inimitable way, Nathan brings kitsch, humour and gravity to these works, allowing them both a lightness and an impact that speaks to the slipperiness of memory and history.
For over a decade, Nathan has exhibited widely, including at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA), Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane and Firstdraft, Sydney. He has been awarded several international residencies and undertook the Australia Council Residency at ACME Studios, London in 2022. He has been a finalist in the John Stringer Prize, Fremantle Art Centre Print Award, Churchie National Emerging Art Prize and the Ramsay Art Prize. His work is held in notable public art collections including Artbank, Murdoch University Art Collection, AGWA and the Curtin University Art Collection. In 2022, he presented a major solo exhibition, A Puzzlement, at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) and was the recipient of the Minderoo Artist Fund Award.
