Kay Abude once said that "Doing what you love is a form of survival. And doing what makes you a living is a form of survival". Hailing from Naarm/ Melbourne and born to a migrant family from the Philippines, Abude has had a long relationship with unpacking the strange conundrums in our relationship to labour, as well as labour’s relationship to art. Abude, like many artists, has always had an insatiable need to create work, though has been acutely aware that there are not currently financial and cultural infrastructures/resources in place that will allow artists to do this full time. Addressing this, (DON’T) BE AN ARTIST is an evolving series that has encompassed labour intensive techniques such as film, performance, textiles, and screen printing. With a sardonic wit, Abude creates works with a production line like output that speak to the precarious nature of being an artist, and how the community perceives an artist’s value. Installation Images Photographed by Campbell Henderson