Draft:Kyle Archie Knight

Kyle John (Archie) Knight (born 01 November 1999) is a Wiradjuri queer photographer based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. Knight is a photographer renowned for his multifaceted photography, through exploring suburbia and the ideas surrounding "camp" and his professional work within the fashion industry.

Early Life and Education
Knight was born a triplet (alongside his sister and brother) on 01 November 1999 to parents Wendy and David in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. He spent his childhood living in Diamond Creek, moving with his family in the surrounding areas before settling in Wollert with his mother Wendy, and sister.

Knight attended high school at Whittlesea Secondary College where he became the only year 12 student to enroll in the studio arts class. It was here where Knight began to develop his first works which were academic-based as well as self-exploratory. His series Tomorrow Never Came (2018) explores the unexpected passing of Knight's Grandfather James (Jimmy) Angus, in aged care, in November of 2017. Knight never intended to pursue tertiary education and was convinced by his studio arts teacher to apply to RMIT University in Melbourne. Knight was accepted and attended the university at the beginning of 2019. He studied a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) and graduated in 2021 with distinction. Knight then began his Honours year and graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) First Class Honours and was Highly Commended for the Deans Award for Academic Excellence.

Career
Knight is known for his creation of photobooks, his first in 2021 titled "The Family Jewels" was handbound and pressed. The photobook is a collection of intimate family Polaroids and those that Knight took himself in present time on his Polaroid SX-70. The practice of creating a photobook was mentioned by Knight as being important as his Grandfather James (Jimmy) Angus had a career as a bookbinder.

In March of 2022, Knight worked with the Mob in Fashion team as a backstage and runway photographer for the 2022 PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Through his connections made at the festival, Knight has continued working closely with photographers and producers who were directly involved.

In 2022, Knight shot street-style photography for Melbourne Fashion Festival during the Picasso Century Exhibition Launch at NGV Melbourne.

Knight continues to work occasionally with well-known Melbourne photographer Danielle (Dan) Castano as an assistant alongside Ben Dowd.

Following his graduation from RMIT University, Knight was selected as one of 22 finalists featured in the Ballarat International Foto Bienalle (BIFB): GradFoto 2022 Gallery. This achievement later lead Knight to secure a spot to exhibit in the BIFB 2023 Core Program at the Mining Exchange in Ballarat, Victoria. The festival ran from August 26 to October 22, during which Knight debuted a new photobook titled Cruising for a Bruising (2023), published by M.33. His photobook is an extension of his exhibition at BIFB and as a flâneur, reconnects with memories of estrangement, finding humour in what was once cold while expressing a lighter side of suburban Australia. His debut exhibition highlighted Knights love for the suburbs as a queer person - a place which Knight describes as once feeling "alienating and suffocating".

In 2023 Knight entered the CCP x Hahnemühle Summer Salon 2023 and won the EIZO APAC Best Use of Colour Prize.

In late 2023, Knight announced that he is an exhibiting artist for the PHOTO 2042 New Photographers program at the Daine Singer Gallery running 01-24 March.

Personal Life
Knight is engaged to Aboriginal and Pakistani model Tarik Junaid Ismat.

They reside in the Western suburbs of Melbourne with their cat Tinsel.