About the Artist

Big Al (b.1997) is an Australian interdisciplinary artist who works from a small cabin on Wadandi Country, Western Australia.

Spending most of her adult life in Walyalup (Fremantle), Al completed her Master of Architecture course at the University of Notre Dame whilst maintaining her fine arts practice.

Her works, which often use analog techniques like painting, drawing and collage, aim to blur the boundaries between the seen and unseen in events, recalibrating human beings’ relationships to landscapes, forgotten rituals and objects in the process. Through strange-making, comedic absurdity and an invitation to reconnect through curiosity, Al explores how people and spaces can act as ecological engines in the daunting presence of the Anthropocene. In addition to visual art, installation and architecture work, her multidisciplinary practice has recently involved the production of films, books and accessible publications to explore her views on creative processes and possible hybrid endemic ecologies.

Als work as an architectural graduate was awarded the Cohen Medal for Notre Dame by the Australian Institute of Architects in 2022. The Forests Atlas, a book of her paintings edited by Daniel Jan Martin in collaboration with several other West Australian artists, was published in May 2023. In 2024 she worked as a part of the landscape design team Super Natural with LM2A architects for their submission Scales of Care for the Australian Government’s ‘Reimagining Where We Live’ Competition where they were awarded first place.

She currently lectures and tutors architecture and landscape architecture at UWA and the University of Notre Dame. She is a part of the environmental design studio Super Natural.

Al’s first book The Pigment Pictures is set to be published in 2025.

TO EVERYONE

who has collaborated or commissioned an artwork over the years, a big thank you for the inspiration, consideration, kindness: Jenny Potts Barr, Daniela Palitos, Daniel Jan Martin, Mariella Espino Zuppa, Shupiwe Chongwe, Dr Noel Nannup, Nansen Robb, Clancy Martin, WA Forest Alliance, Mt Eyk Architects, Patrick M. Lyndon, Suhee Kang, Grant Johnson, Harrison Davis, Landscape Architecture Australia, Tokyo Zokei University, Aiko Owada, Makita Sayaka, Sierra Sanchez, Silvia Husek, Blake Poole, Baz Emerald, Georgia Herbert, Tessa MacKay, Early Work Gallery, Liam Mouritz, APACE Nursery, The Little Wing Corner Gallery, Three Stories, Ray Smithson, Third Wheel Cafe, Arts Itoya, Studio Kura, Sachi Matsuzaki, Matthew Forsyth, Rebecca Merlic, Colin Peele, Anna Abl, Sanae Nicola, Eugenio Nuzzo, Georgia b Smith, Nick Uglow, Sabina Kafkova, DSLD, OCA, Stable Hands, Angelica Young, Huzzard Studio Group, Best Wishes, Georgia Siciliano, Paper Mountain Gallery, Jessica Kohlbusch, Emily Wong, Katarina Welborn, Grant Donaldson, Guy Straker, Olivia Dejonge, Navdanya International, Kate Wilson, Plastic Free July, Sheila Art Foundation, LOVE Foundation Australia, Mojos Bar, iKids, Oceanique, South Ceiling, Spacey Jane, Noah Dillon, Fraeya Evans, No Nomad, These Winter Nights, RA RA Viper, Jack O Grady, The Bird, Joes Printing, Emily Ford, Michael Tartiglia, Timothy Angeloni, Ali Angeloni, Alice Reilly, Emma O’Donovan, Tess Dillon, Ali Dillon, Claire Breidahl, Trini Reynolds, Maxi Ford, Recycled Rainbow, Racqael Rebelo, Demon Days, Rosemount Hotel, Tom Van Beem, ICEA, And/And Studio, Shore Coastal, Tara D’Cruz, Indie Stewart, Bec Maddern, Pete Dwyer, Kate Manolini, Acacia Landscape Design, Gemma Kilcoyne, Saskia Fleming, James Giddy, Cleaver St, BANFF, Ghost Care, Josh Sampson, Julie Murray, Kieran Lama, Lachlan Serventy, St Pats, Mal de Mer, Sam Perrignon, Vaughn Bisschops, Sandie Walton-Ellery, Alex Micallef-Jones, Brooke Gagiero, Tahlia Beeson, Henry Meagher.