Hugh Hayden
NGV Triennial

Hugh Hayden’s anthropomorphic sculptures and installations arise from a deep connection to nature and its organic materials. Transforming salvaged wood – itself loaded with histories of trauma, persecution and survival – into moving metaphors for the African-American experience, Hayden examines how our interactions with the environment are intimately connected with complex notions of class, race, identity and belonging. The artist draws the subject matter of his works from the objects and institutions that play a defining role in our individual and collective lives.