Double Happiness

Christian Thompson formally trained as a sculptor, but his practice now includes photography, film, sound and performance. Thompson spent many years studying overseas, both at the Dasarts Academy, Amsterdam and at the University of Oxford, where he undertook his Doctorate. However, he is now based in Melbourne and frequently returns to his Country around Barcaldine, southwest Queensland.

Thompson’s work is largely biographical and explores concepts of identity and Indigeneity. In his work he morphs into a range of personas through carefully orchestrated poses, costumes and settings. In many works, Thompson refers to the role of photography in developing notions of Indigenous identity and presence, interrogating this to offer a very different perspective in the present from his own unique viewpoint.

Thompson has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, having been included in exhibitions such as Australia at the Royal Academy for the Arts, London; We Bury Our Own at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; The Other and Me at the Sharjah Museum, United Arab Emirates, and The Beauty of Distance/Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age for the 17th Biennale of Sydney. A major survey exhibition of Thompson’s work, Christian Thompson: Ritual Intimacy toured Australia from 2017 to 2019.