Abdul Abdullah

I first met Abdul Abdullah on the opening night of one of my exhibitions. I was a little tipsy, saying hello to friends and strangers, when Tada, the DJ for the evening, introduced me to a tall Australian with a baseball cap and an enormous smile. I did not know who he was at the time, but that smile stayed with me.

When I photographed Tada at his studio in February 2025, he mentioned that Abdul was going to move in too. A few months later I contacted him, and in October I finally visited. With that same big smile, he showed me around the studio, introduced me to his team, and walked me through old works and pieces still in progress.

Abdul first visited Thailand in 2011 for research connected to the Next Wave Festival. In 2023, he relocated here with his wife, making Bangkok a useful base as both of their practices extend across Southeast Asia and beyond. He showed me early photographs with his brother, Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, also an artist. Coming from a creative family, Abdul spoke about the influence of his brothers and of his mother, who was an art teacher.

His earlier work was often overtly political, challenging preconceptions about Australia and the stereotyping of young Muslim Australians. When he became stuck in the United States at the outbreak of Covid, the longest period he had spent away from his family, he began exploring a softer side of his practice, drawing inspiration from fantasy books and from Animal Crossing, which he played during that period.

In the studio, Abdul showed me how his paintings begin with photographs. He manipulates the images until he reaches the reference he wants, which he and his team then translate into large-scale oil paintings. In one room stood a giant green cardboard car, built as a prop for a shoot the following day. I decided to finish our session by asking Abdul to sit inside it and keep a serious expression, which turned out to be almost impossible.