Special thanks is extended to Dr Laini Burton for her leadership and mentoring for all Third year and Honours’ students.

Thank you to QCA Designers Sebastien McNamara and Bianca Taylor-Andrews who devoted their time designing the Meta- Catalogue. Also, we thank Aiden Ryan and Dan Carson for their assistance with photography and videography.

The artists in Meta- also wish to gratefully acknowledge the support of the following people:

Associate Professor Donal Fitzpatrick Deputy Director, Gold Coast QCA Ms Dominique Falla Mr Daniel Della-Bosca Ms Rae Cooper Ms Heather Faulkner Ms Anne-Maree Garcia Ms Trudy Jensen Ms Natasha Kershaw Mr Jason Urech.

Gold Coast City Gallery Staff:

Gallery Manager Mr John Walsh Senior Curator Virginia Rigney Assistant Curator Emma Collerton Public Programs Coordinator Jodi Ferrari Exhibition and Collection Coordinator Stephen Baxter

Queensland College of Art Griffith University Visual Arts Building (G14) 2.28 Parklands Drive Southport Qld 4222 www.livewormgoldcoast.com/studio-arts

Published by Griffith University ISBN: 978-19-2221651-9 Author: Laini Burton Title: Meta-

Printed by Fast Proof Press www.fastproofpress.com.au

This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission of the copyright holder and publisher. Text copyright the authors. All images copyright the artist.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

www.sebastienmcnamara.com.au www.biancataylorandrews.com

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META-Dr Laini Burton

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THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARTISTS

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GLENN BARRYStudio Artist / Honours

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URSUL A COOPERStudio Artist / Honours

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JOHN FORNOStudio Artist / Honours

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SIMONE LOUISE GILLESPIE

Studio Artist

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T YLER JACKSONStudio Artist / Honours

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L AUREN KESSLERPhoto Media

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CHISTOPHER McKENZIE

Studio Artist

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MONIQUE MONTFROY

Photo Media

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JACK PACKSHAWStudio Artist

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DEBRA ROBINSONStudio Artist / Honours

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RACHEL SPENCERStudio Artist

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MELISSA SPRAT TStudio Artist

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JOSH WHITEPhoto Media

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ARTIST’S BIOGRAPHIES

C O N T E N T S

In conceiving the exhibition Meta- as an open-ended prefix, the participating artists enable a wonderful conceptual elasticity covering a broad range of concerns. Such an approach offers viewers a flexible experience, though one that rotates around issues of the body and identity and body politics. As writer Bryan Turner claims, ‘we live in a

“somatic society” in which our present political problems and social anxieties are frequently transferred to the body’.1 Most frequently it is artists who give form to these anxieties and Meta- does not sway from this tradition. Invariably these artists are searching for aspects of selfhood and self-realisation, through histories or bloodlines, through materials or present-day positions. What can be seen in the work within Meta- is that there are multiple overlaps and shifts between the representation of politics and the politics of representation.

Traversing both of these categories is Honours candidate Glenn Barry. Existing between perceived traditional aboriginal art practices and contemporary art making as an urban First Nation Australian man, Barry offers the viewer a new paradigm of thought, or ways of knowing; a framework described by academic Karen L. Martin as Indigenist Research.2 A Gamilaraay man from North-West New South Wales, Barry structures his own identity through multi-paneled paintings that can be read as

windows into his personal experience. Through his play on language as juxtaposed with traditional and contemporary images, Barry joins a powerful line-up of artists such as Gordon Bennett, Richard Bell and Vernon Ah Kee who use text and image to challenge Eurocentric constructions of race, identity and history. In doing so, Barry acknowledges his rich heritage and expands notions of urban Aboriginal experience that aim for revised and relational connections to move beyond racial categories, skin colour or labels.

Like Barry, trans-media artist Lauren Kessler honors the tradition of oral history in homage to her Oma Henderika Kessler. In a heartwarming documentary that traces the migration experience of her Grandmother during and post-World War 2, Kessler opens the channel for viewers to perceive the difficulties so many underwent from the displacement caused by history’s most devastating war to date. Kessler’s documentary provides an insight into what life was like in such a tumultuous time while subtly extending a warning that the ever-present danger of conflict could lead us into similar turmoil. Moreover, Kessler reveals the human spirit as resilient, as we witness the strength and joyfulness of Henderika in the everyday activity of her life.

The displacement experienced by Kessler’s Grandmother is expressed in a very different way through Honours candidate

Debra Robinson’s work. Robinson explores the conventions of museum display through the use of Kunstkammer—the wondrous cabinets of curiosities that began appearing in the 16th century as a precursor to the modern museum and which served cultural and scientific advancement. Critically engaging with the hierarchical systems of categorisation that underpin museum displays, the artist places personally significant objects together to wrest control over her own identity. In restaging and curating her own ‘room of wonder’, Robinson maintains authorship of her historical record, which was once the exclusive purview of the museum.

Probing the contours of self-representation, Christopher Mckenzie’s work centres itself on notions of masculinity. Beginning his work as a

‘conversation’ with his family, Mckenzie produces works that act as riposte to the devaluing of artistic labour against more conventional masculine work undertaken by family members. The artist counters his gestural brushstrokes and monumental size—favoured by notoriously masculine artists of early modernism and mid-20th century movements—with what can only be read as vulnerable bodies, revealing a personal strategy to deal with the pressures that accompany the performance of

‘Manhood’. While this challenge potentially places him in a position of familial estrangement, it is clear the artist seeks deeper

relationships that shift beyond backslapping as veiled affection. At the same time, Mckenzie speaks of a particular kind of Australian masculinity shared by many men today.

Sharing a similar preoccupation is photographer Monique Montfroy. Her large-scale, stark and minimalist black and white photographs of men and boys underline the position of her subjects who are biologically designated as male, but socialised as masculine. Montfroy’s investigations into masculinity find form in what might be considered a failed typology; failed because she proves there can be no one model. Her treatment of these subjects draw the viewer not into the definition or degree of masculinity, but rather to the emotive power of their expressions as we begin to imagine their character, their lives and occupations. What Montfroy’s portraits communicate to us is that what constitutes masculinity today is anything but black and white.

Seeking a personal under- standing of identity is Melissa Spratt whose considered response to materials become a way of knowing herself an artist, and aim to communicate aspects of her personality. Her low-relief sculptures, whether folded, looped or woven undergo a process of transformation from chaos into order and act as surrogates or non-figurative self-portraits. Spratt identifies with a pathological need for order

and therefore is learning to ‘let go’, sharing with you the journey as her obsessive and intricately hand-threaded materials cascade into playful disarray. In this way, she opens up the possibilities not only for material investigation, but also for new aspects of her own self-identity to emerge.

For Rachel Spencer, playfulness leads to equally important life skills, which she grounds in the development of literacy. With childhood memories that include bedtime stories of Green Eggs and Ham, Spencer explores this topic through visual interpretation of the phonemic sound waves produced by Seussian nonsensical language. With Dr Seuss as her muse, Spencer gives vibrant form to his stories using the very pages of the books from which the sounds waves originate. Resulting in shapes that translate Seuss’s

‘thneeds’, ‘humpf-humpf-a-dumpfers’ or ‘oobleck’, Spencer brings self-reflective pleasure to the palate and revitalises in the audience the wonderment felt when remembering the iconic and fantastical stories of Dr Seuss.

While the spirit of play and childhood memories are happily traced by Spencer, John Forno turns our attention to the consequences of its lack in our developing years. Entertaining the idea that spontaneous play is crucial to a child’s development, Forno’s Lego sculptures reveal a search for his inner child, free from the contamination of socialisation or life pressures. In an unsettling realisation,

META

activists organising their politics in reflective ways or assembling in peaceful and earnest gatherings. In doing so he suggests a kind of bathos in their actions, which, if climate change policies are anything to go by, can be understood as not being heard. Without moralising, White ultimately turns the lens upon the viewer to consider our own action or complicity in climate change and to see whether the triumph of western capitalism will continue over the obvious need to address environmental destruction.

Our external relationship to the environment is turned inward in Tyler Jackson’s work where we see the body seeking communion with the environment. Jackson considers space and spatiality as a way to construct subjective worlds. The embodied subject narrativises space, actuating it with both internal and external forces of thinking, feeling and movement. Jackson’s work stresses the presence of the figure, while referring to external forces as a key influence in our perception of everyday life. In translating the internal into actions in time and space, what is evoked is Henri Lefebvre’s broader remit that space and place are constituents of the object—bodies included3.

Jack Packshaw’s work provides an intentionally disorientating experience for the viewer. Stemming from first hand experience of epilepsy, Packshaw takes the viewer on a journey designed to replicate the zone of consciousness just before

Forno recognises that identity formation is almost, if not entirely impossible in retrospect since the return to childhood idealism can only be visited from the present adult position. The work, while appearing joyous bears a kind of impasse that is revisited with the deposit of every Lego brick.

It is from the position of an adult that Simone Louise Gillespie draws as inspiration for her work. Approaching childhood from the viewpoint of a parent, Gillespie’s tangled, woven sculptures challenge the notion of suburban bliss with their seeming mess, which is tempered by the sorbet colours of little girl’s bed linen. Gillespie traces the passing of time with each knot; time measured in centimetres grown, clothes worn out and toys surpassed. The labour and patience invested in her meditatively tied plaits resembles the very same as that required for the marathon of parenthood. As they accumulate in size and form, or unravel into chaos, Gillespie sensitively reflects on the highly emotive relationships between childhood and parenthood.

It is our relationship to the environment that concerns photographer Joshua White, who scrutinises the questionable ethics of big business from the position of the activist. Often we see images of activists armed with placards and chanting behind a line of supporters to the cause. White’s photographs offer an alternative platform for these voices as we see environmental

1 Turner, Bryan S. ‘Social Fluids: Metaphors and Meanings of Society’. In Body & Society, 9:1 (2003):1.

2 Martin, Karen L. Ways of Knowing, Ways of Being and Ways of Doing: a theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous re-search and Indigenist research. Accessed 2 October, 2014. <http://eprints.qut.edu.au/7182/1/7182.pdf>.

3 Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. Malden, MA, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1991.

a seizure. His self-composed, synthesized soundtracks and purpose-built sound booth take the viewer to an altogether different zone of consciousness. In doing so, he invites you to step inside and share in what is a powerful and life-altering condition. For the not so brave, Packshaw creates a vicarious experience through his film work that can be viewed from the reassuring distance of a screen. Pursuing an empathic understanding of this neurological disorder, Packshaw raises awareness in an audience who may never otherwise have an experience of such an event.

Returning us to full consciousness of our bodies is Ursula Cooper’s Honours degree body of work. We live in a society obsessed with cleanliness and order, and the leaking, oozing body is seen as a threat to our sense of mortality. There is palpable hostility to our corporeal flows, which are swiftly managed by any number of systems of hygiene. Given our bodies are besieged by an increasing prevalence of attitudes toward bodily management and control away from the perceived abjection of the body, Cooper shrewdly traces these underlying anxieties by confusing the viewer with work that oscillates between disgust and beauty. In a restorative manner, the disorder of bodily materials such as hair and saliva are brought into aesthetic order in Cooper’s work, transforming that which is rejected into

sculptures and film to negotiate revised ways of seeing and knowing the body.

The broad array of processes and mediums employed by the artists in Meta- make for a kaleidoscope of provocative and visceral experiences. Setting their sights on the potential for self-empowerment, the artists in this exhibition invite an open dialogue about of how we all might encompass or transcend the conditions invoked in their work as contested territories of the self.

It has been my pleasure to guide these students through their studies; witnessing their ideas evolve into the work presented here in Meta-. It is also with pleasure that the Queensland College of Art, Gold Coast continue the tradition of showcasing emerging talent at the Gold Coast City Gallery, who we sincerely thank for their continued patronage and nurturing of cultural production at the Gold Coast.

Dr Laini Burton Lecturer, Digital Media Queensland College of Art Convenor: Studio Art; Art Theory; Fashion Design

T H E N E X T G E N E R AT I O N O F A R T I S T S

I AM choosing to scrutinise how identity is held within each being. As a man that identifies as an urban First Australian and Irish man, I AM acting against the persuasions of colonisation in order to (re) claim, to understand, to reveal, to expose and to bring the experiences of an urban Aboriginal Australian artist into contemporary understandings.

I AM responding to my own personal authentic narratives. Rather than referencing the Dreamtime or Dreaming that I am not privy to, this is through regathering long lost memories that are like DNA strands passing their genetic information along.

I AM investigating questions raised by Karen Martin in her writings about Ways of Knowing, Ways of Being and Ways of Doing: a theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous re-search and Indigenist research. These descriptors apply in relation to my research and productions that enquire into notions of identity, self-description and self-determination.

GLENN BARRY

I AM developing a multi-modal research methodology that incorporates process as research, an Indigenist research perspective and autobiographical narratives.

I AM standing strong among many who are staging educated comebacks of reclaiming our presence and our canon.

I AM using the phrase “Nowing” as my own contemporary descriptor of Indigenous knowledge and philosophy in action. Combining these worlds of “Nowing” is accessing our bloodlines, our ancestors that speak a language that only when the mind is silenced, can their spirit be heard and reveal their lived experiences through actions.

URSUL ACOOPER

“It is thus not lack of cleanliness or health that causes abjection but what disturbs identity, system, order. What does not respect borders, positions, rules. The in-between, the ambiguous, the composite.” (Kristeva 1982)

Examining the abject as matter out of place, this piece examines methods of restoring bodily fragments back to a state of order. In this piece, hair has been transformed through the methodology of crochet. By employing an instrument of control long strands of hair become intricate and structured. In this context the hair, is no longer a categorical problem, but has been brought into a controlled state—a state of order.

A video piece further investigates notions of order and the abject. The artist uses a mortar and pestle to crush long strands of hair into fine dust. Here, the matter is brought to a point where it can no longer be recognised as human matter but something new entirely. For a brief moment the particles of hair are visible as they drift into the video frame and then disappear into thin air. Saliva, in this piece, has also assumed a new form; frozen into ice, the matter is temporally

The Abject

controlled. The ice is placed in the mouth of the artist, by which the melting process is initiated by the warmth of the body. The saliva leaves its solid ice form but it drips back into its original state, moving from one ordered state to another.

By challenging the nature of these materials, the traditional notion of the abject as

“other” is challenged and the piece opens up new interpretations to negotiate the non-preferred body.

Exploring in an adult world the radical notion of play through the mediums of sculpture, performance and video, this current body of work is an extension of previous works intertwining the theme of play. This current exhibition interrogates the importance play can have in building esteem and identity in a world of the ready-made toy, also exploring the value a mere set of Lego bricks can have in establishing a strong sense of self.

JOHN FORNO

SIMONELOUISE GILLESPIE

In my practice I construct sculptures and assemblages that are formed from bed-linen and clothing that once belonged to children and their families. In a rather open process, I loop, twirl and delicately trail the fabric into hundreds of metres of tangled rope to suggest the tenderness, uncertainty and interminability of parental experience.

As the mother of two little girls the use of domestic materials and objects has a familiarity, and suggests a tactile, visual and emotional connection to the artworks. Embedded in the works is an emotional component of remembering and longing that is facilitated through the physical act of plaiting. The hand-made quality of the works reveals the artist’s presence, but equally as important is the trace of those who at one time wore or used the clothes and bedding materials. I would like my sculptures and installations to be suggestive and invite the viewer to reflect on their own experiences as a parent or child.

T YLERJACKSON

I chose to display this body to impose a reflective process on what the body is and how it’s forever changing and adapting to its surrounding space. The body seems to be a part of us, but we all go through points where our very own body doesn’t seem to fit with the ideals of life. The work is not about one thing or another, it’s simply an identifier for many to reflect on how perfect, but how imperfect the body is.

Considering the Body

Using multimedia format to create a documentary, Lauren uses old photos, film videos, recent images and interview footage to establish substance and depth, telling the story of the life of her Oma Henderika Kessler. In her own words, Henderika explains the hardships and difficulties she faced including moving to the other side of the world and leaving friends and family behind for the last time. The documentary explains the personal perspectives of Henderika’s experience living in Europe during WWII, and later migrating to Australia. Lauren explains, “using the camera as a storytelling device is a powerful method of connecting and engaging with an audience, and being able to extract emotion from strangers is what makes it so rewarding”. These individual stories are all little pieces of the puzzle that come together to create an oral history.

L AUREN KESSLER

My body of work attempts to discuss the relationship of censored ideals of masculinity and the stoic behaviour of male experience within Australian culture. These relationships are explored within my own social circles and Australian upbringing.

Through the use of colour, scale and gesture, I endeavour to explore interests that lie within the key elements and behaviours of social normality and influential ideals of masculinity.

The magnitude of the paintings question the norms which men feel the need conform to and pressures imposed upon them by society. The works also depict confronting aspects of masculinity and the ever-treacherous pathway to the idealised ‘man’.

CHRISTOPHER McKENZIE

Monique Montfroy’s photo documentary project, “Bois to Men,” questions the traditional archetype of Australian masculine identity. Through photographic typology she poses the question, “What constitutes masculine identity in 21st century Australia?”

From the 19th century, landscape painting and portraiture has portrayed Australia as a man’s country. Hyper masculine sporting figures dominate television screens. Iconic Australian actors such as Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, and Paul Hogan perpetuate the “Aussie Bloke” stereotype. Alternately, identities such as Dame Edna (Barry Humphries), Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce have challenged normative gender roles in the gender-bending performances they have made. Though feminism promises men a release from the prescriptive constructs of the masculine script, Australia is far from a feminist nation and maintains its blokey identity.

In this photo typology, the subjects are asked to state what masculinity is to them. The subjects in this project encompass all definitions of masculinity; straight, gay, young, old, able, disabled and trans. Through exploring both sex and gender identifications, this work challenges the binary ideas of what it means to be masculine in contemporary Australian society. The black and white portraits are stripped of aesthetic artifice and simple in their form; the photographic gaze invites the viewer into a dialogue with the subject.

MONIQUEMONTFROY

‘Separated’ is a mixed-media artwork that is designed to replicate the experience of having/witnessing a seizure through visual and audible forms. The work aims to force the audience into an experience of disorientation and anxiety, even fear. Using unique video creation techniques and sound manipulation, Packshaw fabricates an atmosphere for the audience. From the almost hypnotizing process presented in the video, to the highly uncomfortable sounds heard in the booth he immerses the audience. It is important that the work is displayed with both visual and audible components. Though they complement each other, both allow for a very different level of engagement within the audience. For people who want to experience the artist’s work but are not willing to enter the booth are welcome to view the video. “I want to have full control over them, so I built a soundproof booth. Through careful placement of surround sound speakers, I’ve created a space where people can potentially experience the feelings and process of a seizure”.

JACK PACKSHAW

DEBRA ROBINSON

My work with cabinets seeks to explore individual stories that resonate through the larger framework of cultural identity and historiography as articulated by the concept of ‘museum context’. Further, the work seeks to engage with the academic critical debate around issues of institutional authority and cultural meaning that are inherent in museum

display conventions.

Displaying objects in a cabinet confers a collective identity and authority on them

that in turn implies cultural significance to the observer. In this way the semiotics of museum display impart carefully constructed narratives to the audience. Would individual objects possess different powers if they were framed in an alternative way? This is a question that has been the subject of much critical analysis by academics, artists and philosophers over the last century.

As a way of channeling my investigations into the topic I repeatedly use the device of Kunstkammer in my installation work. This construct of the seventeenth century evolved as a smaller version of Wunderkammer—literally, a room of wonder, and would typically contain a range of exotic objects and artworks that reflected the collector’s experience of the world in miniature. These cabinets acted not only as personal archive, but were also an important precursor to the modern museum. It is a device that has long been appropriated by artists—acting as a conduit for larger concepts or becoming semiotics in their own right.

My cabinets are part of an ongoing methodology that appropriates the form as a device for framing and contextualising individually themed collections. This particular cabinet dates from the nineteenth century settlement of the Fassifern Valley in South East Queensland. The work is inspired by the way in which the history and physicality of this region resonates with my own experiences of displacement and nostalgia.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

― Dr Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

When I was a child Dr. Seuss books were my favourite and they helped me learn how to read. There were some words I knew and some that I didn’t, but usually these were the words that sounded the funniest!

These funny words have been turned into buzzing sound waves using pages from the Dr. Seuss books. A sound wave is made from vibrations moving through air particles. When these particles bump into other particles more vibrations are made until finally there is no more energy to keep it alive. Try putting your hand in front of your mouth and saying ‘hello’. Did you feel the air flow from your mouth and vibrate against your hand? Now try imagining this feeling as a picture! If you’re having trouble, look at one of the sound waves I’ve made here to get an idea of what this feeling might look like.

Have a go at reading some of these funny words. How many can you read?

Proudly Sponsored by HarperCollins Publishers Australia

RACHEL SPENCER

MELISSA SPRAT T

My practice is a reflection of myself, my most inner feelings and contemplations, a subconscious recount of my passions and vulnerabilities. I seek answers and hold curiosity for belonging and becoming, self-identity, human interactions and perceptions. I seek to find theoretical concerns through internal process which is brought out by material choices. This creates a sense of identity and self-portraiture in a non-literal manner, articulating this through an abundance of emotional questions. I have reliance on the tactile nature of human discovery, setting challenges not only for myself to achieve and overcome, but also for the viewer.

Through the creation of this body of work I have endured therapeutic and meditative processes, making each mark an intuitive self reflective journey. This enables a conversation between works to have a distinctive dialogue and element of exploration. My works continually seek order in an environment of chaos producing work that conveys a strong materiality and conceptual standpoint.

Throughout Australia’s colonial history, people have banded together to create a voice when they were not being heard as individual members of society. Activism movements are essential to giving the public a means to take a stand for what is believed as right, just and proper for all.

With each generation brings a new wave of activists, and in an ever-developing society driven by Governments and big business bent on profit, these activists challenge the morality and ethics of those responsible for making profit at the expense of planet Earth and all of its inhabitants.

Environmental activism is relevant now, more than ever before. The race against global warming is well and truly on and activists are doing their part for the sake of the delicate environment we, and millions of other species, call home.

JOSHUA WHITE

Glenn Barry (HONS)

As an urban Indigenous man Barry is interested in exploring the ways in which contemporary art practice can express his experiences in ways that link traditional values to lived issues. Barry’s heritage also identifies with his Irish as well as his First Australian heritage, and embraces the complexities of identity as offering rich sources of imagery and ideas. He works in a range of media including painting and technologically produced imagery and uses this multi-modal approach to open up fixed ideas about identity. He identifies with the role of art in enquiring issues of self-determination and belonging, and also is committed to critiquing the assumptions associated with colonialist interpretations of First Nations people.

Simone Louise Gillespie

Simone Louise Gillespie is a Gold Coast visual artist whose art practice reflects on themes of memory, nostalgia and the passing of time. Her artwork traverses different mediums including installation, sculpture, assemblage and painting. In Simone’s art practice there is a continual exploration of materials garnered from her domestic environment as she explores the complexities of being a parent and its daily emotional and physical pulls.

Simone will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Queensland College of Art and is a finalist of several national art prizes including the Paddington Art Prize and the Churchie Emerging Art Award. Her artworks are held in private collections nationally as well as corporate collections in South East Queensland including The Mater Private Hospital and The Gold Coast University Hospital.

www.simonelouisegillespie.com.au info@simonelouisegillespie.com.au

Ursula Cooper (HONS)

Ursula Cooper is a Brisbane based artist and writer who is involved in creative projects in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast. In addition to her art practice, she has also worked as an Exhibition Coordinator for the 2high festival as well as other artist run initiatives.

John Forno (HONS)

J A Forno is a Gold Coast based visual practioner specialising in the mediums of sculpture, installation and performance art. A product of the pop culture era of the 70s, 80s and 90s his influences range from DC comic characters, Star Wars, 8-bit gaming, Disney, 3D and Looney Toon characters. Artistic influences range from Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Marina Abramovich, Joseph Bueys, Damien Hirst, Mike Kelley, Banksy and Ron English. With an interest in consumer culture and psychology his theoretical influence range from Freud, Jung, Lacan, Baudrillard and Barthes. A central theme entwined through the majority of J A Forno’s practice is the idea of play, childhood, memories and dream states. With a strong sense of self and an understanding of psychology J A Forno creates works that challenge one’s ideals and knowledge of what it is to be an adult in today’s society.

Lauren Kessler

Lauren Kessler was born and raised on the Gold Coast and has always had a passion for design and art , but the past three years has seen her engaging more specifically with the medium of photography. Lauren enjoys exploring the world of documentary practice, yet maintains her creative pursuits through Graphic Design.

www.laurenkessler.net info@laurenkessler.net

Christopher McKenzie

Christopher McKenzie is a Gold Coast based visual artist who works with mixed media, incorporating acrylic, ink and aerosol into his vast array of work. McKenzie is extending his achievements by completing his Bachelor of Digital Media, majoring in Fine Art, from Griffith University in 2014. With a Diploma of Graphic Design and a Certificate IV in Visual Art already behind him, he intends to top off his tertiary education portfolio by pursuing an Honours in Studio Art.

McKenzie moonlights as one of the Gold Coast’s most active artists, working alongside organisations such as Gold Coast City Council, Rabbit & Cocoon, Griffith University, 40/40 Creative, Surfer’s Paradise Festival and Bleach Festival.

McKenzie is a pioneering force in the development of the emerging Gold Coast’s culture and art scene. Since first exhibiting at sixteen, he has contributed to the growth of art galleries and events in the region. His passion for organising live art show and exhibitions across the country has led to his involvement artist collectives including LMTDspace and the Smudge Collective.

McKenzie artworks are held in private collections nationally as well as corporate collections in South East Queensland including Griffith University, Jupiter Casino and The Gold Coast University Hospital.

www.creatingmadness.com.au info@creatingmadness.com.au

Tyler Jackson (HONS)

Tyler Jackson is a Gold Coast based artist that grew up in the hinterland of Northern New South Wales. Jackson had first completed a Diploma in Graphic Design before completing a double major in Fine Art and Graphic Design at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University Gold Coast. He has since gone on to further studies and is completing an Honours degree in Fine Art. His work focuses on the body and spatial awareness through sculpture and installation. As the body poses many interpretations and conceptual underpinnings, Jackson explores the different methods in which to pose these ideals. His installations ask the viewer to question what the body is and reflect on their own spatial identity.

www.tjvisualdesign.com tyler@tjvisualdesign.com

T H E N E X T G E N E R AT I O N O F A R T I S T S

Jack Packshaw

Originally from Byron Bay, Jack Packshaw moved to the Gold Coast to study in 2011. He began his journey as a QCA studio-artist in 2012 and has evolved as a practitioner and as a person since then. Jack mostly works within the digital realm and is fascinated by the human mind, particularly how it works and consciousness. The concepts of his artwork surround mental illness, more specifically Epilepsy. As an epileptic who has suffered seizures, he has personal experience with the issue and embraces it in his art.

Jack’s art practice explores many mediums, however his current focus is illustration and sound-art. He likes to convey his ideologies through methods that can be interpreted by audiences of all ages, in a range of different ways. Employing self-discovered techniques in his creative process, he develops artworks that are unique and aim to educate, immerse and involve interaction with the audience.

www.jumbledjack.com info@jumbledjack.com

Debra Robinson (HONS)

Debra Robinson is a multi-media installation artist whose principal interest is in the appropriation of museum display techniques to articulate personal concepts of identity and heritage.

Born in the UK in 1961, the artist arrived in Australia in 1989. Having studied visual arts and glass making at Sydney College of the Arts, Debra relocated to the Gold Coast, where she completed a Bachelor of Digital Media (Fine Art) at the Queensland College of Art, gaining the Academic Achievement Award for 2011. She has subsequently completed a program in Museum Studies at the University of Queensland that have inspired her return to making art.

Her current body of work is informed not only by practical experiences in museums and galleries, but also by critical analysis of the field from significant artists and philosophers. Debra is interested in the way that the disciplines of collecting and display can be utilised as a tool for articulating alternative critiques around the recording of history that challenge traditional institutional authority.

In addition to her current art practice, the artist also teaches

‘Creative Histories’ and ‘Debates in Australian History’ at Griffith. It is her aim to develop teaching-oriented studio methodologies that might ultimately enable a diverse range of participants to engage with and articulate their own creative histories.

debra.hummingbird@gmail.com

Monique Montfroy

Born in Melbourne, Monique Montfroy now resides on the Gold Coast, studying a Bachelor of Digital Media, majoring in Photo Media. Monique’s main field of interest is in documentary photography and photojournalism. She has always had an interest in diverse cultures and hopes to be able to use photography as a tool to explore and engage with various global communities.

www.moniquemontfroy.com info@moniquemontfroy.com

Rachel Spencer

Born in North Queensland, Rachel Spencer relocated to Gold Coast in 2011 to commence her studies at Griffith University. Her practice predominately consists of using paper, resins and glues. Her strengths lie in studio experimentation where paper sources are re-worked to produce art pieces which hold meaning significant to the material’s origins. She graduated in July 2014 with a Bachelor of Digital Media majoring in Fine Art

r_k_spencer@hotmail.com

Melissa Spratt

Melissa Spratt is a young emerging artist living on the Gold Coast. Interested in artistic practices from an early age, Melissa went on to study a Bachelor of Digital Media, majoring in Fine Art at Griffith University, Queensland College of Art. Having shown work in numerous exhibitions and becoming a part of several artistic collectives, she has gained a range of skills.

Finding influence through material choices and production processes, Spratt has worked with various mediums; paint, photography and drawing, but her most recent work is in installation and sculpture. Being very meticulous about each aspect of her work, she creates subtle abstraction and interaction with personal identity as subject matter.

Seeking advice, wisdom and knowledge about the creative industry is now at the forefront of Spratt’s ambitions. Fabricating art work is only one of Spratt’s passions. She has a knack for organisation and is interested in gallery systems and curation. She is continually creating and looking to broaden her skills, being open to all new opportunities.

www.melissaspratt.com.au info@melissaspratt.com.au

Josh White

Currently based on the Gold Coast, White works with Film and Digital photographic mediums, incorporating traditional techniques to create contemporary works. With an impressive portfolio, White will graduate with a Bachelor of Digital Media, majoring in Photojournalism from Griffith University.

As a valued employee in a Photo Lab, White is versed in photographic processing and selling photography equipment. However more notably White prides himself in being one of the Gold Coast’s more active young artists, working to help pioneer a massive change in the Gold Coast’s culture and art scene. White has contributed to the growth of some cutting edge art galleries and events, and will step up his involvement following graduation.

Info@joshuadwhite.com.au

ISBN: 978-19-2221651-9