
Axel Garay is a proud Meriam (Eastern Torres Strait), Puerto Rican & Malaysian queer man living and working on the lands of the Kulin Nations in Narrm (Melbourne) Australia. Axel is an emerging interdisciplinary artist -using digital video, installation and alternative photographic processes to explore themes of technology ethics, desire, spirituality, history and human psychology.
Axel is a recipient of the Creators Fund grant awarded through Creative Victoria to research and develop a feature length screenplay. Axel published a number of articles for Artshub as part of a stint as writer for their Amplify Collective diversity initiative. He was a co-deviser on Ilbijerri Theatre Company's social impact play The Score, which recently toured around Victoria. Axel received an honourable mention in the 2024 Bowness Photographic Prize for his work, Slow Way (Unfinished Business).
Axel created a public art projection work for the Test Sites program funded through the City of Melbourne. Axel has held a number of coordination and advisory roles in the arts and not-for-profit sector and worked for organisations such as Oxfam Australia, NON studios, NGV, State Library of Qld, BlakDance Australia, Ilbijerri Theatre Company among others. He is currently on the advisory committee for Switchboard Victoria's QTBIPoC program.
In 2024, Axel commenced a practice research PhD at the RMIT school of Art, where he is exploring the practice of immersive art making and the links to spiritual immersion. Axel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Gender studies and Indigenous studies from University of Melbourne and a Master of Media from RMIT.