I am a queer feminist artist based in Melbourne Australia. I center my work on notions of materiality and the body, placing particular importance on my personal experience of vulnerability and loss. I explore self and identity with the feminist methodologies of feeling and listening being key to my making process. My textile, sculpture, performance, drawing, and photography are shaped by the interplay of form, texture, and touch.
I have had solo and selected group exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney and regional Victoria and New South Wales. I have been a finalist in art prizes and selected exhibitions including The Manning Art Prize Naked Nude, the 6th Petite Miniature Textile Exhibition, The Emerging Artist Craft Award with Craft NSW , Queer Art Prize in Melbourne, She (on two occasions) at the Walker Street Gallery and the Moreland Summer Show at Counihan Gallery Brunswick.
My recent projects include Boobing, an exhibition at ACU Gallery in Melbourne, the third in a series of exhibitions with Stephania Windholz Leigh and Caroline Phillips and Now that Kin have Gone, an exhibition with Mira Krulic at Sandbox Studio's Box Gallery. Other key projects include Holding the Space: An exploration of absence, grief and loss through handmade craft practices, performance and photography, developed during my Master of Fine Art at RMIT, and a solo exhibition To Be Seen at Northern Rivers Community Gallery, Ballina Shire Council NSW.
I hold a Master of Fine Art from RMIT, a Bachelor of Fine Art with First Class Honours from Monash University, A Diploma of Visual Art from Victoria University and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours majoring in Social Sciences from La Trobe University. I have worked in Adult Education for 20 years and I currently teach the Diploma of Visual Arts.
Contact Karryn via email on karrynargus@gmail.com or via the contact form below
Craft-based skills are central to my practice and these were taught to me by my mother Marion Waters and my grandmothers Eileen Argus and Mary Dalton