Nonabel

Khaled Sabsabi considers himself a people’s artist who pushes art-making complexities through engagements with others who are more on the margins than him. Since the late 1980s, he has worked with communities, particularly in western Sydney, to create and develop arts programs and projects that explore people and places from broad social, political and ideological spectrums.

Nonabel (2011) was installed in the Air Raid Shelter (building 34) on Cockatoo Island, for the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012).

Artist Statement
My work focuses on socio-political contexts. I have worked with numerous communities, developing art programs and projects that explore the complexities of place/displacement, identity experiences and ideological differences. The dual identities that develop through the migrant experience can create anxiety and uncertainty, but they can also generate awareness and the ability to experience and to analyse cultures, traditions, and histories. I began my creative life as a hip-hop performer and have produced sound art, installations and performance pieces. As a video artist, I continue to work across borders of discipline, nationality and culture to create artworks that challenge the passive consumption of media spectacle. The aim of my critiques of global mass media is to bring the individual back into the picture and to ensure that viewers take responsibility for the sense they make or take from what they’re seeing. I want people to comment about my work, regardless whether it is a negative or positive comment. I want people to engage with the work even if it is seen as controversial. Personally these statements (works) need to be addressed if we (the people) are to truly comprehend cultural opinions, traditions and knowledge.