Entombed in Joy | Damien Shen

Entombed in Joy is Damien Shen's most buoyant body of work, bringing together the visual languages that shaped him across childhood, culture and adulthood.

Familiar 1980s cartoon characters and pop-culture symbols adorn bold, shield-like forms patterned with references to Shen's Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna heritage. These paintings consider identity as something both inherited and customised: an accumulation of cultural memory, personal affiliation, protection and play.

Created after Shen stepped away from art during the COVID-19 pandemic, while working in South Australia's emergency response, the exhibition marks a deliberate return to creativity through joy. Yet the title retains an undertone of mortality. To be "entombed in joy" suggests being surrounded by the images, stories and symbols that gave life meaning. Through energetic colour and precise illustration, Shen transforms nostalgia into a meditation on belonging, resilience, and the enduring armour of identity through time itself.