LUST
FOR LIFE
14 – 23 FEBRUARY
83 High Street, Prahran VIC 3181
Biography
Axel Garay
Axel Garay (Meriam/Puerto Rican/Malaysian) is an emerging multidisciplinary artist combining photography (specifically alternative photographic processes), digital video, installation and performance.
Axel has exhibited at Yirramboi Festival, Next Wave, State Library of Qld, Koorie Heritage Trust and in the public realm. He received an Honourable Mention in the 2024 Bowness Photography Prize and Highly Commended in the 2025 Brisbane Portrait Prize. Axel is completing a PhD in Art at RMIT university where he is exploring the connection between spirituality and immersive arts practice.
His work often explores the tensions between an algorithmically driven world and the desire for the presence of the artist’s hand, heart and spirit. The cyanotype portrait photographs exhibited as part of NotFair 2026 were created without the use of a camera, by applying a “resist” and pressing the artist’s face onto the paper, causing a reaction with the photographic chemicals to reveal the portrait. The paint has been applied by hand also.
Nehushtan (2023), the video work projected as part of NotFair 2026, was originally created for a disused bus stop at the Royal Melbourne Hospital which has since been demolished. It is only fitting that it be shown again in a building doomed for demolition.
You can read more about Axel’s work at www.axgaray.com.
Connect
www.axgaray.com
Works
Resist portrait 1, 2025. Framed cyanotype photograph, synthetic polymer paint on 100% cotton Bergger paper. Edition 1/1. 8 x 10 inches
Resist portrait 2, 2025. Framed cyanotype photograph, synthetic polymer paint on 100% cotton Bergger paper. Edition 1/1. 10 x 12 inches
Proudly Supported by:
NotFair Art Foundation
info@notfair.com.au