I am an Australian artist, arts writer and academic living in Lisbon and Porto, Portugal. I was based in Beijing, China 2007-2014.
I have an international practice that is hybrid, socially engaged and collaborative. Projects address issues related to (dis)functional urban and natural environments and realised as installations, site specific and performative.
Recent exhibitions include Linked Objects, Nine Dragon Heads 25th Anniversary. Tours IV International Online Art Festival Grad, Sarajevo (BiH); Cheongju Museum of Art and Seoul Palace Museum (KR); Espace Juraplatz, Bienne (CH); Avalanche Art Space, Great Barrington, Ma (US); Artisterium, Tbilisi (GE); Quartair, The Hague (NL) (2020); These are the last lines she wrote, 36th Sarajevo Winter Festival, Bosnia Herzegovina (2020); Fishing with Explosives, Avalanche Art Space, Massachusetts, US (2020); Adaption & Transition, Biennial of Photography, Porto, Portugal (2019); Art Politics – Project Border Crossing ONSAEMIRO, DMZ and Suwon Elementary School, South Korea (2019); Triennial of Photography, Hamburg, Germany (2018); Foreigners, Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre, UK (2017); Tell me something, Colombo Art Biennale, Sri Lanka (2016); Last Things, Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre, UK (2016); Sharpness, Anna Pappas Gallery, Australia (2016); It’s closing time for gardens of the West, Palazzo Mora, 2015 Venice Biennale, in collaboration with British artist Wayne Warren; Ger to Ger, Mongolia National Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2013); Unbound, Macquarie University Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2013); The protest that never ends, ARTISTERIUM 5, Tbilisi, Georgia (2012); URS27, Taipei City Urban Redevelopment initiative, Taiwan; Spill, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan (2011); postEDEN, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2010); The Recycled Library, Art Space, Mackay, Australia (2009); Spare Room, Elizabeth Bay House Museum, Sydney, Australia (2007).
Awards include the inaugural Individual Artist Award from the Australian Federal Government for arts achievements in Asia (2013), and a Commonwealth of Australia public service medal for contributions to arts and education (2005).
Arts agencies have funded major exhibitions and collaborative projects in Australia, Asia and Europe and artist residencies in Istanbul, Paris, Taipei, Beijing, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Chengchi, Amsterdam and Porto. Funding agencies include the Australia Council for the Arts; Asialink Australia; the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia; Fubon Art Foundation, Taiwan; Taipei Culture Foundation; Sovereign Art Foundation, Hong Kong; Lingnan University, Hong Kong; The Australian Embassy, Beijing; the Australian High Commission, Sri Lanka, The Triennial of Photography, Hamburg and Ci.CLO Platforma de Fotografia, Porto.
I regularly undertake public commissions that are permanently sited in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, India, the Philippines and Australia and I am represented in museum and private collections in Australia, UK and Asia.
As an academic and arts writer I advocate for access and equal opportunity. As a head of department and visual arts lecturer in various universities and art academies in Australia and China, and Kong Hong I have established working and funding relationships with government to support the arts. My arts writing positions the arts within an eco-political framework. In 2019 I contributed to the Asia-Europe Foundation/Ci.CLO Plataforma de Fotografia Green Guide that maps cultural initiatives in Portugal focusing on environmental and social sustainability. I am currently a consultant for Ci.CLO Platforma de Fotografia, Porto.
This year I established Atelier Cruz Vermelha in Porto, a visual arts lab that promotes and supports sustainable arts action.