Sherry Quiambao

Sherry Quiambao is a Boorloo/Perth-based multidisciplinary artist.

First capturing the attention of our curatorial team after a glowing endorsement from fellow photographer Petrina Hicks – one Australia’s most acclaimed and influential artists and a major star in our flagship Eora/Sydney gallery’s stable – Quiambao’s work reimagines everyday objects in playfully constructed tableaux that explore questions of identity, consumerism and self-image.

“I’ve always been drawn to how everyday items can tell stories and evoke emotions when presented in a new way,” says Quiambao, whose artistic vision was shaped by growing up in 1980s regional Western Australia within the Filipino diaspora on Yamatji and Marapikkurrinva Country.

Her images subvert advertising’s polished aesthetic with a vibrant, witty take on the photographic still life, musing on materialism’s role in shaping personal narratives and cultural identity. “Through these compositions, I aim to highlight the dualities in our cultural and consumerist experiences, where beauty and humour sit alongside more complex and layered ideas,” says the artist.

Quiambao juxtaposes traditional and symbolic still-life subjects – flowers, fruit – with culturally loaded objects and throwaway consumerist emblems such as fast-food packaging, now irreverently repurposed as floral vessels.