Ken Faber
Pronouns: They/he
Region: Auckland
Arts practice: Mixed media sculpture and painting, egg tempera, carver.
Links:
Ken Faber (they/he) is a mixed media artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Their current media of choice include egg tempera and gathered materials such as animal fur, seaglass, stone, and wood. His artwork explores non-human personhood to express loss of agency in an ending world, connecting to his experience of having their autonomy, community, and sense of humanity stripped from me due to my disability. Their artwork captures the grief in the inevitability of the end: wrestling with change for better or for worse. He combines his studies of Fine Arts and anthropology to question the innate ideologies that people have about human nature, collapsing binaries of Eurocentrism, chronocentrism, and anthropocentrism.
Working with me:
I enjoy working with others, especially working on projects as a group for parallel play. I encourage hearing other people’s stories and their perspectives on my work.
Artwork by Ken Faber
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Examples of art practice
Exhibition: In The End We Are Together
In The End We Are Together explores what it means to be human in a world facing environmental and social change. Ken Faber uses materials like egg tempera, fur, and found objects to question ideas about identity, nature, and power.
The work draws connections between past extinctions and the present, asking how we understand our place in the world. Dinosaurs and non-human figures are used to challenge human-centred thinking and to reflect on disability, autonomy, and belonging.
Through layered materials and processes, the artworks hold both personal and collective stories—grief, change, and the possibility of connection.
- Diatomaceous stones painted with egg tempera
Generally 4-6 inches tall and 3-4 inches wide. Wall installation with French cleats - Hākoakoa Deinonychus / 608mm x 400mm
Egg tempera on gessoed MDF. Scattered goathair inclusions. Wall installation with French cleats. - Kāruhiruhi Ornithomimus / 400mm x 800mm
Egg tempera on gessoed MDF. Scattered goathair inclusions. Wall installation with French cleats. - Utahraptor / 458mm x 255mm x 580mm
Utahraptor’s limbs and head are cast aluminium. Sea glass scales gathered from Milford Beach in the head, a multicoloured array to align with the found object ethic of my work. The pelt is alpaca and possum fur that I received from elders in my community, needle felted onto a pattern cut from a cotton button-up shirt, the colouration resembling a common tern chick. Inside there is a steel frame, cotton stuffing, and lentils sourced broken heatpack that I used for my chronic pain before I had a hysterectomy, linking this sculpture to my gender transition. The sculpture needs to face a light source, whether it's the sun or artificial lighting, as a substitute for the meteorite and evoke searching for a parental figure. Sculpture requires a plain plinth to sit upon, similar to a museum display, allowing for viewers to make eyecontact with the sculpture. Current exhibition includes self-recorded squeaking/chirping sound effects. Also featured in the Eden Arts 2025 Exhibition.