“I want to help people feel seen”: an interview with artist Judy Kuo
Judy Kuo is a visual artist and illustrator working on the land of the Wurundjeri people. They are the designer of RACS’s new “It’s Legal to Seek Asylum” t-shirt. Here’s Judy on their sources of inspiration, artmaking goals, and what keeps them feeling fulfilled.
How did you get into art and illustration?
I've been drawing since I was a kid. I have always been introverted and, as a young child, drawing was a really good way to get adults to leave me alone. Maybe in a way similar to how it was when I was a kid, I quit my policy job to pursue art full-time as a way to get managers to leave me alone.
As an adult, drawing was a really natural and soothing way for me to process emotions and reflect on things I've learned. Whether it was reading new political theory or reacting to unfolding news, drawing was how I consolidated my understanding and interpreted new information in my own way.
What are your main sources of inspiration, what values shape your artmaking?
My main sources of inspiration are the activist movements around me and all the amazing artists who make up the leftist artist community in Naarm. Art has made me feel really connected to my local community. I am inspired by the weekly Palestine rallies on Sundays, fellow artists (and role models like Sam Wallman), grassroots community spaces like the Black Spark Cultural Centre, the many local mutual aid fundraisers, and my friends. I think that's why my values in community and solidarity run so deeply throughout my work.
What do you want to achieve through your illustrations and designs? Are there any thematic through-lines in your work?
My hope through my illustrations is to express how I am feeling and what I am thinking about, to help people feel seen and reach out with a sense of solidarity across communities."
When people see my political or activist art, I want them to feel motivated or affirmed to continue to take action on what they believe in. I think a theme of my work is that every artwork is a dedication to the activists around me. It's my way of showing support, encouragement, solidarity, commiseration, and collective hope.
Images from Judy’s upcoming solo exhibition “Night Spotting”
What was your inspiration for the RACS t-shirt design? What kinds of themes or emotions were you trying to convey?
In the RACS t-shirt design, I was thinking of the ways that refugees have been let down by our society in the past and imagining instead how we can do better in welcoming refugees.
The design is hopeful, not because I think we do a good job as a society, but because I think imagining how things can be different is a necessary first step to changing the system.
I wanted to show symbols of safety, hospitality, respect, and flourishing. I wanted to centre the joy of family reunion, because too many families are torn apart by our government's immigration systems. I wanted to convey hope for a kinder way of treating people.
What compels you to work with organisations like RACS?
I love working with organisations like RACS who are committed to justice, solidarity, and empathy. I work almost exclusively with progressive organisations such as trade unions, climate campaigns, community legal services, and LGBTQIA+ advocacy organisations. Given the common themes of my art, I'm lucky that the organisations that choose to work with me are self-selecting and align with my values already. I am really grateful to be able to lend my skills to work in the community that I genuinely care about.
What do you find fulfilling about your work?
Selfishly, the greatest thing about my work is spending my brief time alive doing stuff that I actually love to do. I love having control over my work and not having a boss making decisions about me without me. I love working at random hours of the day and working at home. There are obvious downsides like unstable and low income, and having to work random casual jobs to support my art practice, but it's worth the sacrifice to me.
I also love feeling useful and meeting people through my work. Art seems like such a luxury but I feel like I make a bigger impact as an artist than I did as a policy officer or researcher.
Whether that's using my illustration skills to bring a campaign to life, or whether it's donating my artworks to mutual aid fundraisers, putting my art to use in these different ways helps me feel engaged, connected, and valued.
It's also opened my world up so much working with heaps of different communities and organisations (I do around 30 commissions a year) and meeting tonnes of different people, all working on different projects and campaigns to improve conditions for those who need it.
Follow Judy’s work here.
Judy’s first solo exhibition, “Night Spotting”, opens 24 April at Galleria Crocodillo in Reservoir, Victoria.
Purchase your own RACS “It’s Legal to Seek Asylum” t-shirt:
