With her work to be exhibited at the National Art School from Friday, August 26, until Sunday, September 11, Ms Abd spoke to SBS Arabic24 about her art.
She said it was wonderful to be a part of the opportunity and exhibition with fellow nominees and management team. It is not the first award for Ms Abd, having been awarded the 2021 Blake Prize (Emerging Artist).
“I will be presenting a body of work using video, sound and embroidery,” Ms Abd said.
“The works are a result of preliminary research into the links between immigration from Lebanon, silk manufacture in the 1800s and the apparent disappearance of the cross stitch embroidery practice in Lebanon.
“This history is viewed through my own position as a woman and migrant to Australia and my love and attempts to practice cross stitch embroidery in a tactile and digital way.”
One of Eddie Abd's digital art works. Source: Eddie Abd
Ms Abd said she had loved drawing since childhood. Born in Lebanon in 1979, Eddie studied Fine Arts (Painting) at the Lebanese University.
After moving to Australia in 2001, she completed a Bachelor of Digital Media at the University of New South Wales (COFA).
“I went on to study painting at the National Institute of Fine Arts (Lebanon). After migrating and a bit of a pause in artistic production due to moving and the birth of my kids, I gradually started working digitally and to focus on my practice in the last couple of years, mainly working with digital media,” she said.
She said her art was a way for her to observe and process what was happening in her world.
“The themes vary but they are always filtered through my viewpoint and position as a woman born in Lebanon, a mother of two young children born here, my ongoing connection to my community in Lebanon, and how that is all in conversation with broader Australian and global political and social contexts,” she said.
