“I am the leader artist”: Patrick William Carter is a multidisciplinary marvel

Noongar artist Patrick William Carter – recipient of a 2024 National Arts and Disability Award (Early Career) – has a big personality and an even bigger creative drive.

Working across painting, video, music, movement and performance, Patrick doesn’t differentiate across mediums, and the resulting vibrant, multitextured works have been exhibited in his home city Boorloo, as well as Victoria, South Australia and the ACT.

Patrick William Carter with his National Arts and Disability Award.

As an emerging First Nations artist with Down’s syndrome, Patrick is a paragon of the West Australian arts and disability arts communities. His work draws heavily on stories and imagery of his family, friends and Country, while also processing pain from his past; of being away from his family and in institutional care.

Pat said, “I am a proud Noongar man. I am an artist. I want to say thank you to all of us. I want to thank my Mum (Sophia Thorne), Simone (Flavelle), Uncle (Kelton Pell) and Sam (Fox). Thank you.”

His award nomination described Patrick’s non-linear, multimedia creative process: “Some days in the studio, Pat will start working with paint, other times he will dance or sing. Then he will switch media. There will be many long discussions.

^{KAYA BOODJA, Still, Patrick Carter in Mia Mia with animated artworks, Wadandi Country, 2023.}

“He will talk about the work he has created – he will weave in family, news of friends and collaborators, aspirations, memories and talk of culture, music, films. In the process of these yarns, Pat will connect the symbols, stories, colours and tones he has been exploring. A clear intention will emerge and he will dive into this work with intense focus.”

His work is also deeply collaborative – as his award nomination says, “If Pat is the solo song-maker, we [his collaborators] are his band, his studio technicians, his instrumentalists.” Or, as Patrick says himself, “I am the leader artist. It makes me happy.”

Happy Two, Acrylic on Canvas, Patrick Carter. Image credit: Johanna Keyser 2024.

In 2018 and 2019, Patrick was a cast member and collaborator for Julia Hales’ groundbreaking play You Know We Belong Together – a love letter to Home and Away, and a commentary on media representation of people with Down’s syndrome. Patrick performed at Perth Festival with the Black Swan Theatre Company, and travelled to Sydney to perform at the Opera House.

Patrick has already had a solo retrospective exhibition, YEDI / SONGS from Patrick William Carter at PICA for Perth Festival 2021, featuring early and brand new digital artworks, short films and large scale projects.

Speaking with his collaborator, the artist and producer Sam Fox, about that exhibition, Patrick discusses the influences of his early work NO MORE CRYIN’ (“Feelings, like teacher taught me how to do. How to help people.”), the hospital stay that prompted BLOOM (“on masks, gown, textiles”), and how he danced his artworks into digital sculptural reality for FIREWORKS.

In the chat, Pat explains to his friend and collaborator Fox, “I like going to bush, trees, snakes, kookaburra. I like to look at the birds, the sun, moon, the stars, the wind. I like dance, I do like [to] make trees, a house. I like the emu dance. I like all my drums and guitar, and I’m happy.”

Patrick William Carter: Gallery | National Arts and Disability Awards