Curator’s Radar: Atong Atem

From her monumental self-portrait at the National Portrait Gallery to presentations at Tate Modern and Paris Photo, the South-Sudanese artist’s practice continues to assert new narratives of identity and belonging.

Words | Nikita Holcombe
Photography | Brian Doherty

 

Atong Atem’s prolific photographic, textile and moving image practice reverberates with energetic composition and colour. The South-Sudanese artist born in Ethiopia, now living in Naarm/Melbourne, employs various image making processes, predominantly portraiture, to explore notions of home, cultural representation, and identity.

Atem draws influence from seminal African photographers including Malick Sidibé, Philip Kwame Apagya, and Seydou Keita. Impressions of their distinct practices are imprinted in her texturally rich, surreal, perceptually playful, and self-determined portraits. Akin to these photographers, Atem subverts the imperial inception of the camera to construct surreal images of herself and others, challenging colonial perceptions and representations of those from the African diaspora. Her photographs are not only seen by viewers, but assertively look back.

The composition of her photographs resembles classical studio portraiture and are often theatrical in their staging. Dense with layers of textiles, those photographed are family, friends, and often herself. The palette spans from black and white to clashing patterns that blossom with pulsating and iridescent colour.

Her current commission, a monumental self-portrait titled The Last Woman (2025) can be seen in the forecourt of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. The large-scale work features sequential studio self-portraits situated in front of a swirling cosmos. Each portrait iteration reveals a different aspect of Atem and her migrant experience, from wearing a toub featuring a South Sudanese flag to cradling a bunch of native flowers. The portraits map the often invisible and in-betweenness of diaspora experiences within Australia.

Atem’s stream of accolades includes being the recipient of the 2018 MECCA M-POWER Scholarship and the inaugural 2022 La Prairie Art Award from the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Among a swathe of presentations, most recently she presented at Paris Photo 2024 with her works This Happened To You (2025) and Adut and Bigoa (2015) in A World In Common: Contemporary African Photography at the Tate Modern (2024). 2026 is expected to be a significant year of presentations for Atem, with several institutional solo and group exhibitions planned.

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First published in Art Collector issue #115 (January–March 2026).