Kait James: Red Flags

08/08/2025 - 08/08/2027

About the exhibition

Kait James: Red Flags is Wadawurrung artist Kait James’ most ambitious solo exhibition to date. Since 2018, James has been carving out a unique visual language based in the reappropriation of racialised products. Colloquially identified as ‘Aboriginalia’, these mass-produced, commercial objects range from souvenir tea towels and pennant flags to children’s dolls and ceramic figurines. Primarily created from the 1950s through to the 1980s for consumption by non-Indigenous tourists, they depict culturally insensitive and racially stereotyped imagery, designs and motifs.

In a practice of subversion, James embroiders into and on top of these products, embedding language and imagery to forge new narratives linked to contemporary political campaigns and debates. Combining autobiography, incisive analysis and wry humour, James’ practice reveals a deep reverence for her culture alongside a glimpse into a shared Aboriginal-Australian experience. 

About the artists

Kait James is a proud Wadawurrung artist whose work boldly challenges stereotypes of First Nations culture, drawing from both her Indigenous and Anglo heritage. Through her art, James critiques and subverts narrow and homogenised depictions of First Nations identity in Australia, and offers a deeper, more nuanced exploration of history, culture and self-determination.

Since 2018, James has had solo exhibitions at the Warrnambool Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Geelong Gallery, Neon Parc and the Koorie Heritage Trust, and contributed to public art projects across Victoria. Recognition of her work includes winning Craft Victoria’s Emerging Artist Award and the Koorie Art Show’s Reconciliation Award in 2019. James’ work has been collected by the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Geelong Gallery, the Koorie Heritage Trust, Epworth Hospital Collection, Monash University Museum of Art, Murdoch University, Artbank and numerous private collections.

Kait James is represented by Neon Parc, Naarm/ Melbourne



Kait James 
Faboriginal 2024 (detail)
acrylic yarn, cotton, digital printed cotton, mirror tiles, felt, 150 x 140 x 10 cm 
Courtesy of the artist and Neon Parc

Touring Venues
and Dates

Partners

Kait James: Red Flags is a Warrnambool Art Gallery exhibition, curated by Aaron Bradbrook and touring nationally with NETS Victoria.

Sponsors

This project has been supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia and the Visions of Australia program as well as receiving development assistance from NETS Victoria’s Exhibition Development Fund, supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.