James Hale is a queer artist living and working in Melbourne. He makes colourful text based paintings on cardboard. His practice is rooted in the tradition of other queer text artists Rene Ricard, David McDiarmid, Tracey Emin, and David Robilliard. James was the winner of the 2020 Fifty Squared Art Prize and is a finalist in the 2020 Paul Guest drawing prize.