This is a self portrait. This is a collection of objects; a sculpture. Some of its materials have been with me since birth, others are brand new, some of its materials hold secrets, others transmit them.

I would like to tell you more, but I can’t. It’s too sad. I’d tell you if I trusted you or if I thought it really mattered.

And in case you are wondering, we all go to the gallows, eventually.

Are you a morning or a night person? At the moment, with four-month old twins, both.

Is there a sound or song that prompts a where or when for you? Yes, lots. Almost all of them are birds.

Is there something you’ve always collected? Stones, scars and books.

Where do you feel the most connected / where do you feel the most disconnected? It is the same place; the studio. But also I connect when I am fishing and disconnect when I am visiting metropolitan areas.

What scares you the most right now / what inspires you? Again, the answer is the same for both. Everything.

Through the process of making your new commission for Between Waves, what has been revealed and/or become more obscured? Art is life. Life is touch. Everything changes.

born 1986, Kamberri/Canberra
lives and works on Walbunja Country, New South Wales

Dean Cross is a paratactical artist interested in collisions of materials, ideas, and histories. Cross is motivated by the understanding that his practice sits within a continuum of the oldest living culture on Earth – and enacts First Nations sovereignty through expanded contemporary art methodologies. Through a cross-disciplinary practice spans photography, video, installation, sculpture, painting, contemporary dance and choreography, Cross often confronts the legacies of modernism, rebalancing dominant cultural and social histories.

Cross has exhibited widely across Australia and beyond. Recent solo exhibitions include To Be Clever, To Be Posh, STATION, Melbourne, 2023; Sometimes I Miss the Applause, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2022 and Icarus, my Son, Carriageworks, Sydney, 2021, and a two man show, Things That are Real, with acclaimed international artist Alvaro Barrington at Cement Fondu, 2023.

Recent group exhibitions include 2022 Free/State: Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art:, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2022; PHOTO2022: International Festival of Photography, Melbourne, 2022; Primavera 2021: Young Australian Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2021; and Eucalyptusdom, The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, 2021.

Cross was a finalist for the Wynne Prize, and the National Photographic Prize, MAMA Albury, in 2022, as well as the Ramsey Art Prize, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2021. Recent national and international artist residencies include Artist in Residence, The Clothing Store, Carriageworks, Sydney, 2019-2022; Indigenous Artist Exchange Canberra/Wellington, 2019, and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art’s Beijing Studio Residency, 2018.

Cross’s work is held by major institutions including the Art Gallery of South Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Heide Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, and in private collections in Australia, United States and France.

Dean Cross is represented by STATION Gallery, Melbourne.