Grace Dlabik is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural visionary based in Naarm (Melbourne). Her practice spans sculpture, curation, creative direction, and community engagement, sitting at the nexus of contemporary art and traditional cultural practice. An Austrian/Hungarian and proud Papua New Guinean woman of the Lavaipia clan of Lese Oalai and the Motuan clan Botai of Hanuabada, Dlabik’s work is deeply rooted in her Melanesian heritage and its inherent knowledge systems. These ancestral traditions inform her exploration of identity, place, and community, reimagined within the contemporary landscape.

Central to Dlabik’s practice is her commitment to building ecosystems where care, culture, and collaboration are intrinsically connected. Her fundamental roles as Mama, carer, and aunty serve as a foundation for her artistic philosophy, which foregrounds reciprocity and collective empowerment.

Over a decade Dlabik has established herself as a trailblazer in cultural and community-building projects, recognised globally for her innovative approaches to fostering creative collaboration. She is the co-founder of BE. Collective and the director of BE. ONE., international initiatives that create opportunities and platforms for underrepresented creatives, championing inclusivity and dialogue across borders.

Her recent achievements underscore her artistic versatility and dedication to cultural storytelling. In 2024, Dlabik was a finalist in prominent art prizes, including the Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize, Sculpture on the Edge, Sculptures in the Garden, and the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. In 2023 she won the Highly Commended Award for STILL’s national art prize for her ceramic work, HASU (2023). Her solo exhibition, Kose Karu Kin, held at Manningham Council, explored intergenerational knowledge and identity with striking depth. In 2023, Dlabik was awarded the prestigious Blak C.O.R.E Mordant Fellowship for Karu Kin, a project blending community building, installation, sculpture, and storytelling to honor ancestral practices in a contemporary framework.

As an on-ground producer and project manager for Brook Andrew’s Welcome To Footscray during Illuminate Footscray 2024, she delivered the commissioned work by Maribyrnong Council and the Victorian State Government, bringing her expertise to large-scale public art. Her leadership extended into the creation of Melbourne Fashion Week’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy, where her vision redefined the event’s ethos and lasting legacy. Additionally, she has been leading the Creative Direction for Melbourne Fashion Week since 2020.

Her contributions to collaborative media are equally significant. At ACMI, she directed and produced the Raise Series, featuring Kimba Benjamin, Atong Atem, and Tig Terera. In 2022, she served as creative director and on-ground Producer for the Aretha Brown Collins Arch mural project, which spanned over 1000 Metres squared.

Dlabik’s extensive portfolio includes collaborations with organisations and brands such as Vogue Australia, Sugar Mountain Festival, and iconic32 (New York), alongside creative direction for global names like Nike, Converse, and Apple. One of her standout projects, HAIVETA, presented at the Sydney Biennale 2020 (NIRIN), transformed a Sydney ferry into a moving reclamation of Oceanic women’s heritage, identity, and community. 

Currently situated on Wurundjeri Country of the Kulin Nation, Dlabik is channeling her decades of creative output into a deeply personal sculptural practice, working with clay, limestone, and bronze to create works that embody intuition and ancestral memory. These works are showcased at her art haus—a space that is simultaneously her home, studio, and gallery—where she continues to invite community to connect and contribute to her vision of an interwoven, care-centered cultural legacy. Her practice exemplifies an unwavering commitment to fostering cultural exchange, building community, and creating art that challenges and inspires on a global stage.

In 2024, Dlabik was awarded the Creative Australia International Engagement Fund for RARO, a project centred on learning traditional Motuan pottery techniques from her 104-year-old aunty, Lahui Arua. This experience deepened her cultural ties and became a catalyst for the HIRI Voyage Project, for which she received further Creative Australia support. These initiatives inspired the Returning Home project—an exhibition and week-long program in Port Moresby designed to bring together Papua New Guinean artists from the diaspora to share their work during the nation’s 50th Anniversary of Independence. The program fosters cross-cultural dialogue and reconnects creative skillsets, knowledge, and storytelling with her homelands, strengthening artistic and cultural networks between Papua New Guinea and the wider world.