Yabini Kickett is a descendant of the Kickett and Hayden families of the Bibulmun/Nyoongar Nation. Having grown up with an artist and poet mother, as well as a photographer and land conservationist father, her practice is heavily rooted in language, endemic plants, family, totemic relations and found objects from country.

Yabini had always shown an interest in visual arts. During her childhood she and her sister Emily-Jane would often go bush with their parents in search of native orchids, naturally they have featured in much of her work, holding heavy personal and cultural importance to her.

In late 2017 Yabini participated in the National Indigenous Arts Leadership program at the National Gallery, this experience helped foster lasting relationships and deeply encouraged her to persue working within Visual Arts.

Currently Yabini is experimenting with textiles, and found objects, with a focus on animal remains from hunting and road kill. The resulting works are often about place and the solastalgia associated with the destruction of country.

In recent years she has explored photography as a final medium for her work Burdiya-ka (Bosses) in Nyinalanginy / the gathering at PICA during Perth Festival 2021. These photos showed her mother Lola, and Aunties in important locations to their family (Jureen Mission, Kellerberrin and Quairading). They were displayed behind a table of items, each of which holding stories woven from matriarchs of her immediate family, Nan Enid Kickett (née Hayden) and her daughters.

In 2022 Yabini curated her first exhibtion Nih! Yeyi Yorga Waangkiny at the Fremantle Arts Centre, which opened alongside Revealed. The show featured five respected Nyoongar artists spanning those early in their career to those that paved the way within the Australian visual arts sector. The show was given a second wind, travelling to the Campbelltown Arts Centre as part of The National in 2023. This second iteration titled Djennung! Yeyi Yorga Koorliny presented Aunty Sharyn Egan and Ilona McGuire as a fierce duo - Travelling interstate to represent Nyoongar country and culture.

Yabini’s strong spirit around Boodja (country), plant and animal kin and the importance of place were all instilled from a young age by her parents, and by extension her maternal grandparents. This passion is at the core of her work before most else, taking any opportunity to learn from Boodja in all it’s forms and methods.

Outside of being an Artist, Yabini has spent four years working as Aboriginal Arts/Program Coordinator at the Edmund Rice Centre WA, specifically Coordinating the Moorditj Koolangka program for Aboriginal youth in the Mirrabooka area. While there, she’s organised and produced projects including WHEN THE EARTH WAS IN DARKNESS, Koomba Warra Kaka and Djinanginy Ngany. It’s been a career highlight for Yabini working so closely with these younger generations, they are our future and it’s integral to uplift and support them where possible - Especially in the Arts.