Abby Wright Day
My work explores concepts of identity and uses art making as a celebration of life, questioning how we construct meaning and challenging traditional power dynamics in viewing and being viewed. As a multidisciplinary artist, I create experimental abstract films, performances, sculptures, paintings, and collaborative installations that interrogate the characters we play for others and examine how I, as an artist, perform for a photograph & for the moment.
I explore the vulnerability of identity construction by returning to childlike play, using my body as an unconventional tool for mark-making and creative expression. My processes deliberately draws attention to how we choose to spend our time and thoughts, creating spectacles that question the root of what makes something or someone worthy of attention. The performance of being watched becomes part of the work itself, challenging viewers' assumptions about behavior and space while democratizing the creative process through non-traditional methods.
By giving agency to unexpected collaborators and redistributing creative power, I question who is viewed as the artist, the subject, or the viewer. My work connects personal identity to collaborative creation, serving as an exploration of how new identities can be constructed through environment and relationship.
Across these explorations, I aim to celebrate the experience of life while questioning how people may perceive these experiences differently. My practice centers on play, vulnerability, and collaboration as means of challenging conventional power structures and creating space for new forms of experiences.
Abby is a multidisciplinary American artist. Before completing her Masters in Contemporary Photography; Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins, she previously graduated with a BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Education
MA// Central Saint Martins// Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophy
BFA// School of Visual Arts// Photography
Currently
Artist // Abby Wright
Exhibitions, Residencies and Publications
Exhibition, Patti Smith:A Child’s Garden of Versus, Historic Spanish Point, November 12 2025- August 20, 2026
Exhibition, George Harrison: A Gardener’s Life, Marie Selby Botanic Gardens, February 9- June29, 2025
Publication, Voyage, March 28, 2023
Publication, Divison Review, New York, New York, Fall 2022
Visiting Lecturer, MA Transdisziplinarität ZHdk, Zurich, Switzerland, December 2021
Group Exhibition, “Finally”, Ugly Duck, London, United Kingdom, September 2-5th 2021
Solo Show, Litla Gallery, Hafnarfjördur, Iceland, April 2021
Group Exhibition, Field Recordings, Reykjavik, Iceland,April 2021
Curator, Group Exhibition, The Castle, Arthousehaus, London, UK
Group Exhibition, Absolutorium, Korpùlfsstadir, Reykjavik, Iceland, February 2020
Artist Residency, Sim Residency, Reykjavik, Iceland, February 1- April 30
Group Exhibition, CSM Next - Covet Art, London, UK - 2021
Artist Residency, Dada Post, Berlin, Germany, July- October 3
Group Exhibition, Saatchi Gallery, Moving Past, Moving Closer, London UK, August- October 9
Group Exhibition, My House is an Island, London, UK, September- October 2020
Group Exhibition, Body Occuptation, Dada Post, Berlin, Germany, September 2020
Exhibition, Thesis Presentation at Central Saint Martins, May 2020
Group Exhibition, Tate Exchange at Tate Modern, “The Space Between” , January 2020
Group Exhibition, Tate Exchange at Tate Modern “Circus”, January 2020
Publication, Schon! Magazine, March 2020
Group Exhibition, Big Space Exhibition, Central Saint Martins, February 2020
Group Exhibition, The Ringling Underground, Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida, September 2019
Group Exhibition, Apiary Studios, We Are Here, We Are, London, UK, March 6-9 2019
Group Exhibition, Tate Exchange/ Tate Modern – 2019
Teaching Experience
2021, Visiting Lecturer, MA Transdisziplinarität ZHdk, Zurich, Switzerland
2020, Guest Artist Lecture, Dada Post, Berlin, Germany
2020, Guest Artist Lecture, BAPC, San Fransisco Photography Collective
2020, Virtual Guest Artist Lecture, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
Teachers Assistant, Studio lighting, Large Format Photography, and Wood Workshop, The School of Visual Arts
ahwphotographs@gmail.com
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