Aida Azin

b. 1988 Larrakia Nation (Darwin, Australia)

Aida Azin Artist Aida Azin is a painter, art facilitator and community organiser based in Melbourne on the land of the Wurundjeri and the Boon Wurrung people. Born to Iranian/Filipina parents and raised in an Australian context, her practice advocates for conversations about shame as a failing political tool, first-generation migrant guilt, racism, Whiteness, dreams, identity, food, and culture.


Aida is a collaborating artist and organiser in Saluhan collective, an ongoing art project that fosters connections between artists within the Philippines and artists within Filipinx diasporas across Australia.

Her visual art has been shown in galleries such as Fontanelle Gallery (SA), Format (SA), Blak Dot (VIC), Seventh Gallery (VIC), Project 20 (the Philippines), First Draft Gallery (NSW), FELT Space (SA), Ace Open (SA), ArtsHouse (VIC), Bus Projects (VIC), Blindside (VIC), and Nexus Gallery (SA).

She has a Bachelor's Degree in Visual Art from the Adelaide College of the Arts (2015). In 2017 Aida completed her honours year in painting at the University of South Australia where the outcome of her research on the effects of institutional racism in the visual arts resulted in the artwork ‘Brown Pillars’.




email: ola@aidaazin.com



EDUCATION

Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours), University of South Australia, 2017.

Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design, Adelaide College of the Arts, 2015.



SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021

Stay Climbing, Window residency, Arts House, VIC


2019

Brown Pillars, First Draft, Sydney.

Lonely God, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne.

2017

enormous blind spots, Format Gallery, Adelaide.

The Kid in Me, John Harvey Gallery, SA.

2016

Everything is Stolen, Fontanelle Gallery, SA.

Everything is Stolen, Project 20, Manila, the Philippines.

2015

Kalahati Kidz, Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide.



SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022

Nexus Gallery, SA (upcoming)

Wyndham Art Prize 2022 exhibition, Wyndham Cultural Centre, VIC

And Shuffling, Conners Conners, VIC

2021

Flow, Blindside, VIC
Sydney Contemporary (presents: Australia’s International Art Fair), online

True Colours, Bus Projects, VIC.

2020

20:20, Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), NSW.

If the future is to be worth anything: 2020 South Australian Artist Survey, ACE Open, Adelaide. 

Rise Against Hunger #WeBidAsOne benefit auction, Gavel & Block, Salcedo Auctions, Manila, PH.

2019

Circular, Blakdot Gallery, Melbourne.

SALUHAN: Pearl Diving Report, Project 20, Manila, the Philippines.

SALUHAN: a Community Arts Event, the Night Heron, VIC.

SALUHAN: a Community Arts Event, Negative Space residency, Minor Works, Adelaide.

Spring show - (a fundraiser for Djap Wurrung), Brunswick East, Melbourne.

Eight Fingers Crossed, FELT Space, Adelaide.

Firstdraft Auction 2019, Firstdraft, Sydney.

2018

A Sinking Feeling (the Politics of Risk), Blakdot Gallery, Melbourne.

Critical Mass: Locked In, Blakdot Gallery, Melbourne.

International Citizen, T1 Adelaide Airport, SA.

Acetate, Mr Goodbar, Adelaide.

2017

A Walk in the Park... and other Calamities, SASA Gallery, Adelaide.

I’ll Be Alright Without You, Format Gallery, Adelaide.

[sic] Rose, Praxis, SA.

Wonderwalls Street Art Festival, Harts Mill Flour Shed, SA.

Home Thoughts from Abroad, Praxis, SA.

2016

Mother, Tongue, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide.

Six Contemporary Artists, Floating Goose Gallery, Adelaide.

4:24, Project 20, Manila, Philippines.

Single Use, Light Square Gallery, Adelaide.

2015

Open Inspection, Floating Goose Gallery, Adelaide.

Leisure, Fontanelle Gallery, SA.

Chromazone, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide.

Content Unavailable, The Mill, Adelaide.

Baboon Ritual, Café Troppo, Adelaide.

2014 

Exit, Light Square Gallery, Adelaide.

Graduates Exhibition, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide.

Postered, Tooth and Nail Gallery, Adelaide.




Other (GRANTS, FUNDING, COMMISSIONS, AWARDS, WORKSHOPS & PROJECT INVOLVEMENT)

Children's art facilitator, Brimbank council, VIC., 2020 - ongoing.

Windows, commissioned by Arts Housw, Melbourne, 2021.

Artwork, commissioned by Next Wave, Melbourne, 2020.

Mural collaboration, youth outreach anti-graffiti program, supported by Brimbank council, 2020

Youth arts facilitator, The LAB, Youth Arts Workshops, supported by City of Brimbank, 2019 - ongoing.

Creator/producer, SALUHAN: a Community Arts Project, South Australia, Victoria, the Philippines, 2019 - ongoing

Participant, Stories from the Future, supported by Diversity Arts Australia, Nexus Arts, Country Arts SA, Workshop, Adelaide, 2019.

Mural collaboration, Flinders University Mural, commission, 2019.

Artist collaboration, Eight Fingers Crossed, FELT Space, supported by Carclew, Adelaide. 2019.

Children's art facilitator, Explore Arts Workshops, supported by Carclew, 2017, 2018.

Semifinalist, 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards SA, The Coffee Club Australia Arts and Fashion Award, 2018.

Mural collaborations, Street Art Explosion, supported by Adelaide Fringe, 2015, 2016, 2018.

Children's art facilitator, Womadelaide Kidzone, supported by Carclew, 2017.

Mural, Wonderwalls Street Art Festival, supported by Renewal SA, 2017.

Artwork, commissioned by Pantera Press, Australia, 2017.

Practice-led research in the Philippines, Project & Development Grant, supported by Carclew, 2016.

Collaboration, Atlas, Adelaide Botanic Gardens Bicentennial Conservatory, Adelaide, 2015.




SELECTED INTERVIEWS & PUBLICATIONS

Aida Azin: An Exploration of Mother-Tongue Language by Rayleen Forester, un Magazine 14.1, Melbourne, May 2020.

Eight Fingers Crossed, by Aida Azin, Alycia Bennett, Tessa Crathern, Kathryn Evans, Karlien van Rooyen, Ellesse McLindin, Emmaline Zanelli, Thomas McCammon, and Olivia De Silva, Have You Seen Him, Adelaide, 2019.

Interview #64 - Aida Azin, interview by Cher Tan, 23 July 2018, LIMINAL, liminalmag.com/interviews/aida-azin

IMAG[IN]E: Aida Azin, interview by Sascha Tan, 26 February 2018, Verse Magazine, versemag.com.au/magazine/imagine-aida-azin/

Space is Cool as Fuck, by Kate Howells and illustrations by various artists, Pantera Press, Australia, 2017.

Space Rocks!, by Kate Howells and illustrations by various artists, Pantera Press, Australia, 2017.

A rest along the way, by Rachel Earl, Issue 10: Purpose, April 2017, Fine Print, fineprintmagazine.com/rest-along-the-way

Interview: Aida Azin, by Emmaline Zanelli, 8 August, 2016, Yewth, yewthmag.com/blog-feed/2016/8/8/interview-aida-azin





SELECTED PUBLIC TALKS

Art Meets Theory roundtable, Critical Race Theory & Resistance Art conference, Flinders University, SA, 2019.

Who speaks for a community?, Panel discussion, Sister Gallery, SA, 2017.

Intersectional feminism in the South Australian arts, FRAN FEST, Art Gallery of SA, Adelaide, 2017.

Creative Women of Colour: a panel discussion, Zombie Queen’s ZINE SWAP 6, ACE Open, Adelaide, 2017.