Essays
2021 artist | author | feminism | printmaking
Barbara Hanrahan Dog of darkness, print, 1978. © the Estate of the artist
Celebrating nature, unbinding social constriction, the sensory spirit and technical expertise of Barbara Hanrahan's retrospective exhibition Bee Stung Lips at Flinders University Museum of Art highlights her importance as a printmaker and social commentator with works that are intimate, palpable, shocking and sweet.
Here is my overview in The Conversation
2021 artist | feminism | classical painting | sex
Chelsea Lehmann, Swan (the flowering), 2021, oil on linen on aluminium, 64 x 55 cm
My catalogue essay for painters Chris Aerfeldt & Chelsea Lehmann's exhibition Counter Histories at Praxis Artspace, Bowden.
"With each knowing gesture, subtle tear and luscious rip in the social fabric, Chris Aerfeldt and Chelsea Lehmann unsettle and unshackle the power relations of the gaze..."
2019 cyberfeminism | network art | online games
VNS Matrix DNA Sluts,1991, digital image.
Interviewing, researching and writing a series of four essays on the extraordinary art practices of cyber feminist supergroup VNS Matrix. Francesca da Rimini, Josephine Starrs, Julianne Pierce and Virginia Barratt.
Read @go #91010, A Tender Hex, Game Girl, & Manifesto in The VNS Matrix online peadogogical archive platforming their works from the early 1990's untill today.
2018 academia | labour | philanthropy | scholarship | dogs
Anne Samstag, Poodles, Linnen rolled edge handkerchief, 38 x 38cm, 1950's
This essay explores the complex relationships between Tertiary Creative Arts and Philanthropy using the very generous bequest of Anne and Gordon Samstag at the University of South Australia as a case study.
NiTRO: (Non Traditional Research Outcomes) Creative Matters, Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts., Edition 17, online only, 2018
2016 artist book | property | capital | instagram
Elvis Richardson, Settlement 2016,
(production still), HD Video
"Both personally and socio-economically reflective, Settlement's domestic interiors document the dilemma of the artist; the place of home in our national psyche; and the affect of lives in transition."
My short essay for Elvis Richardson's Artists' book Settlement (84 Pages, A3 Book, Exhibited at Hugo Michell Gallery October 2016). Signed limited edition book available at elvisrichardson.com.
2018 community | environment | printmaking | award
REAL, Rare Earth: Tipping Point, 2017 (detail) digital file, 26m x 1m, Image: REAL
Probing the collaborative practice of Rare Earth Artists Lab : REAL - John Blines, Michele Lane and Georgina Willoughby, who engage community though ephemeral installation, multimedia, print-making and sound to unravel our relationship to climate crisis and humanity's existence on this unique planet.
Imprint, Vol. 53, No. 3, Print Council of Australia, Vic
2016 adoption | feminism | labour | public art
Melinda Rackham on top of the The Space Between memorial, 2016. Photo: Tait Shmaal
"This artwork is for all those whose lives have been profoundly affected through adoption separation practices, for the loss suffered by many, for the ongoing grief and pain experienced by Mothers who lost their children and for Adoptees who lost their identity, heritage and family."
This essay integrates my experince as an artist, an adoptee and as a birth mother on the Steering Committe of South Australia's public Adoption Memorial on the Torrens River banks.
2016 traditional practcies | labour | artisans |
Masuma Akther Stitch of Bonds, 2003 Photo: Jonathan VDK, 2015
"A fine needle, a loop of yarn, a hand moving, thread drawing through fabric; and repeat. Stitching is a nuanced language spoken mainly by women in local dialects that are recognised across global cultures..."
So starts my essay on three women from Afganistan, Iran and Bangladesh, who gain new insigts through teaching their traditional emboridery skills at Guildhouse, published in Garland Magazine
2015 artists | | jewellers | studio collective
Sue Lorraine, Lightspot Brooches, 2015heat coloured mild steel, polypropylene, rare earth magnets, laminated labels
The catalogue essay for Theatre of Detail - an exhibition celebrating the Gray Street Workshop's evolution over 30 years, which toured nationailly & internationally in 2015 and 2016.
Theatre of Detail included new work by Grey Street partners Jess Dare, Sue Lorraine and Catherine Truman.
2014 catalogue | sculpture | art-science
Dismantled microscope parts.
Photo: Catherine Truman
From spending time with artists Nicholas Folland, Ian Gibbins, Deb Jones, Catherine Truman and Angela Valamanesh, emerged this essay on the whimiscal, surprising and poetic artworks they reconstructed from the relics of a suite of decomissioned analogue microscopes.
The Microscope Project, Ian Gibbins, Melinda Rackham & Fiona Salmon, Flinders University Museum of Art, Adelaide
2016 adoption | labour | public art
Rose petals on CHEB (Deb Jones & Christine Cholewa) The Space Between, Torrens River, Adelaide 2016. Photo: Melinda Rackham.
My article discussing the hidden labour of women in adoption and public art - specifically the Space Between Commerative Public Artwork acknowleding the trauma of Forced Adoption practices.
Runway #32 [Re/production] edited by VNS Matrix. Contributers include linda dement and Amy Ireland, cigdem aydemir, Cynthia Verspaget, teri hoskin, Quinn Eades, Helen Hester and Zahra Stardust
1998-2017 reviews | essays | texts
A page leading to an archive of sorts
There are many many more essays that I've written over almost 3 decades of involvement in the Australian and International media and networked art arena.
This includes reviews of global exhibitions and events, art essays, opinion pieces in print publications and online, and links to some texts which have dissapeared from easy access.