Digby Webster
Digby Webster is a Sydney-based visual and performing artist with Down syndrome whose career spans 16 years.
Working across a range of media, Digby Webster’s visual arts practice integrates oil pastels on paper, acrylic on canvas, ceramics, and drawing. His work is characterised by strong, evocative colours and a distinct, expressive visual language.
His collaborative projects have included murals and exhibitions of joint works on canvas. He has also contributed as a character designer and creative consultant for animated films and conducted workshops for the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) as part of their education programs.
A founding member of Front Up Studios (Ability Options), Webster has worked extensively in inclusive arts settings. He has also participated in workshops and performances with DirtyFeet and contributed as a facilitator in their programs.
Webster has achieved significant recognition, including being a two-time finalist in the Archibald Prize and Fisher’s Ghost Art Award. His artistic accomplishments include artist residencies at Bundanon and Hill End and his work being selected as a ‘Winning Work’ by the BiG-i Art Project in Osaka, which toured Japan and Hong Kong.
His diverse practice extends into contemporary performance, where he has served as a production designer and performer on award-winning short films such as The Interviewer and Heartbreak and Beauty with Bus Stop Films.
Webster’s exhibitions span solo and group shows, including Butterfly Effect: Paintings & Drawings at 107 Green Square NSW (2022), Make Your Mark (a collaboration with Georgia Norton Lodge) at the Museum of Sydney (2020), and Daydream (a collaboration with Neil Tomkins) at Studio Gallery Cheltenham, Victoria. He has exhibited at Barangaroo as part of the I Am Still Here emerging artists exhibition, and his work was featured in the Leichhardt Open Studio Trail, alongside invitations to exhibit at Leichhardt Library for three consecutive years.
Webster engages in creative projects that explore the intersections of visual arts, performance, and collaboration, while contributing to the growth of inclusive arts programs.
In this interview, Webster shares his love for vibrant colours, his joy in creating work that brings happiness to others, and his passion for fostering greater understanding of artists with disabilities while advocating for their voices and work to be seen and appreciated.
Video production by Atypical 2024.
Photo by Kim Batterham, courtesy of Yarra Bank Films.
ID: Photograph of Digby Webster standing next to a painting he created. Digby is wearing a paint-smeared apron over a red shirt, poses proudly in an art studio. The painting depicts a figure with a rectangular face, glasses, and a camera, set against a vibrant background of orange and blue. The studio environment includes additional artworks visible in the background.
About NAVA
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) is a Membership organisation that brings together the many voices of the contemporary arts sector to improve fundamental conditions of work and practice. We do this through advocacy, education and the Code of Practice. For further information on NAVA visit www.visualarts.net.au
