12°C |
Tuesday November 10, 2026 
9 November 2026
For Sydney artist Rhonda Dee, art has always been more than an occupation. It is a way of reflecting on life, sharing ideas and exploring the changes that shape our identities.
Her latest exhibition, Shifting Identities, at Art Atrium 48 in Milsons Point, brings together decades of artistic exploration, examining the space between who we once were and who we are becoming.
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, near the Mexican border, Dee grew up surrounded by Indigenous mythology and imagery that continues to influence her work.
“I’ve been an artist all my life and I grew up identifying with that as a very young child,” she said.
“I grew up near the border of Mexico, so the textures of animal hybrids into humans is a normal thing – like Jaguar imagery that would become an Aztec god. I had a lot of that imagery growing up, layered through indigenous cultures.”
After moving to Seattle to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Dee eventually settled in Sydney, where she has lived, worked in inner-city studios and exhibited for more than 25 years.
Her fascination with identity and personal transformation has been a recurring theme throughout her career.
An early solo exhibition in Glebe featured shrines assembled from personal belongings, childhood photographs and writings contributed by six people. The works explored the things people had left behind or no longer identified with.
Visitors were also invited to reflect on dreams they had abandoned.
“Probably the most interesting response was, ‘Sometimes I feel like my dreams have let go of me,'” Dee recalled.
“That sort of just stuck with me. We’re not always in control of letting go of things. Sometimes things let go of us without our conscious mind doing anything about it. That’s an idea that’s carried through my work till today.”
Her new exhibition revisits these ideas through approximately 25 to 30 works, including ceramic sculptures, drawings and large-scale layered collage paintings on board.
Many feature imaginary figures combining human, animal and botanical forms, creating a world that is theatrical, mysterious and occasionally unsettling.
View this post on Instagram
A series of busts and portraits also draws on Dee’s engagement with the Australian National Maritime Museum, particularly stories of migration, arrival and the ceramic keepsakes people carried across oceans.
Although she primarily identifies as a sculptor, Dee approaches her work intuitively, often combining materials and ideas over long periods. Some clay pieces have evolved over as much as a decade, while her two-dimensional works incorporate layers of synthetic drafting film.
“The most important thing in a work is space,” she explained.
“It could be emotional space, energetic space, or intellectual space. If it was all sound just flooded, you don’t have anywhere to get into it. You’re given the mystery and the space to figure it out on your own. I’m always looking for that sensation of still being alive.”
Art Atrium 48 director Isabelle and Linna le Boursicot became familiar with Dee’s work through an exhibition at Macquarie University Art Gallery.
The Milsons Point gallery, housed in a former architect’s studio, will allow Dee to display her sculptures and two-dimensional works together, something she rarely has the opportunity to do in her own studio.
“I like having them both in the one room because in the studio it’s impossible to see it all together,” she said.
“To have them blended like that, I’m looking forward to seeing it all installed.”
The exhibition will also feature two events giving visitors an opportunity to learn more about the artist and her work.
Macquarie University Art Gallery senior curator Rhonda Davis will deliver an address at the opening, while National Art School senior lecturer in art history and theory Lorraine Kypiotis will lead an in-conversation event with Dee on 5 December.
Shifting Identities is showing at Art Atrium 48 in Milsons Point, with the exhibition concluding on 5 December.