Question the Space

Rachel Burke is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia. Burke’s process driven, performative work moves between wearable art, sculpture, contemporary painting, and installation to navigate themes of identity, memory, and obsession.

Burke harnesses playful abstraction with craft-based materials to create ‘portals’ for personal introspection. By activating the work through vivid colour and dense laborious decoration, the work aims to inject magic into normality. In turn, grappling with the bittersweetness of nostalgia for youth in adulthood.

Rachel has exhibited her work in gallery spaces across Australia, recent solo exhibitions include: Garden of Gratitude, Brisbane Powerhouse, (2021), Apomowish, Hawthorn Arts Centre, (2021), Cute Tomb, Saint Cloche Gallery (2020), APOMOGY, Redlands Art Gallery (2019), The Little Mermaid, Hamer Hall (2019), Tinsel Town, Analogue Gallery (2017), The Magical Mundane, Fortitude Valley Mall (2016), APOMOGY, Enough Space (2016). Recent group exhibitions include: City in the Sun, The Museum of Brisbane (2021-2022), The F Word, The Print Bar (2019), Wonderwall, Adderton Gallery (2019), Wonderland, The Australian Centre of the Moving image (2018), Yen Female Art Awards, GAFFA (2016).

Image credit: Rachel Burke, Portal 39, mixed media, 2023 (detail)

Ross Coulter is an artist practicing on the traditional lands of the Yalukit Willam clan of the Boon Wurrung. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (with Honours) and a Master of Fine Arts (Research) from the Victoria College of the Arts.

Coulter has exhibited at various local and international venues, from independent artist-run initiatives to esteemed public institutions. His photographic series 'Audience' was showcased in a solo presentation at the National Gallery of Victoria. He collaborated and danced in Lucy Guerin Inc.'s production of ‘Untrained,’ captivating audiences at prominent venues like the North Melbourne Meat Markets, the Sydney Opera House and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Coulter has received several awards and grants, including the George Mora Fellowship at the State Library of Victoria and the Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Traveling Fellowship for his innovative ‘10,000 Paper Planes’ project. From 2013 to 2014, he participated in the two-year studio residency program at Gertrude Contemporary.

Currently, Coulter's focus lies in photographic portraiture, performance and community participation. With a background in teaching visual arts and photography at Monash University and Deakin University spanning 15 years, he has transitioned into creating 3D virtual tours. In this new venture, he connects communities of creative practice to local and international audiences, embracing the evolving landscape of art and technology.

Image credit: Ross Coulter, Sticker Prints, 2018-2019, Silver Gelatin Photograph with Stickers (detail)

Melbourne based designer and artist Jordan Fleming works with metal, plaster, pigment and timber to create sculptural and experimental furniture and lighting pieces characterised by humour and vivacious, wonky asymmetry.

Fleming’s work expresses a personal exploration with materials through her use of sculpting plaster and pigments to create pieces that possess an emotional impact; conjuring feelings as if they're living in the space, rather than solely serving a programmatic function.

Having a background in cabinet making and interior design, Fleming established her own furniture design practice in 2018. Fleming’s works have been exhibited in Melbourne Design Week (2020, 2021, 2022), At The Above Gallery (2021)  and  internationally at the Lake Como Design Festival, Italy (2022). Recently Fleming has be selected for the  2022 Vogue Living VL50 in the Product Design category.   Additionally, her work has been profiled in design magazine Artichoke, architecture and design blog Yellowtrace, and Frankie magazine as the winner of their 2018 Good Stuff design awards.

Image credit: Jordan Fleming, Looking at me, Looking at you, Small Wall Mirror 3.0, chrome aluminium, pigment, plaster, 2023. Photo my Alice Hutchison (detail)

The Guerrilla Girls are anonymous artist activists who use disruptive headlines, outrageous visuals and killer statistics to expose gender and ethnic bias and corruption in art, film, politics and pop culture. They believe in an intersectional feminism that fights for human rights for all people and all genders. They undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair. They have done hundreds of projects (street posters, banners, actions, books, and videos) all over the world. They also do interventions and exhibitions at art museums, blasting them on their own walls for their bad behavior and discriminatory practices, including a stealth projection on the façade of the Whitney Museum about income inequality and the super-rich hijacking art. Their retrospectives and traveling exhibitions have attracted thousands.

Their new book, Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly collects hundreds of their projects from 1985 to 2020. Recently their work has been seen at Tate Modern and Whitechapel Gallery, London; São Paulo Museum of Art; the Venice Biennale; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Museum of Military History, Dresden; Art Basel Hong Kong; and many other places. The Guerrilla Girls’ motto: Do one thing. If it works, do another. If it doesn’t, do another anyway. Keep chipping away. Creative complaining works.

Copyright © Guerrilla Girls, courtesy guerrillagirls.com

Melbourne Art Library is a not-for-profit lending library that collects specialised art and design texts.

Our reading room in the Nicholas Building in Naarm-Melbourne’s central business district is open four days a week. We are proudly independent and are curious about what being a 'library' means.

A Barkindji man living on Yaluk-ut Weelam Country in Melbourne, Kent Morris graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts and is an alumnus of the National Gallery of Australia’s Wesfarmers Indigenous Leadership Program. Central themes in his art practice are the connections between contemporary Indigenous experience and contemporary cultural practices and their continuation and evolution. 

By reconstructing the built environment through a First Nations lens, Morris reveals the continuing presence and patterns of Aboriginal history, culture and knowledge in the contemporary Australian landscape, despite ongoing colonial interventions in the physical and political environments. The interaction of native birds with the built environment reflects resilience, adaption, continuity and change to ecological systems reflecting on the ways in which Indigenous culture survives and adapts. 

Morris manipulates structures and nature into new forms that reflect elements of Aboriginal tangible and intangible cultural heritage and reinforce cultural continuity since time immemorial. All Morris’ artworks are constructed from a single photograph taken while walking on Country. Apart from basic editing, digital information has not been added or subtracted from the original photograph.

Image credit: Kent Morris, Cultural Reflections - Up Above: Magpie-lark, print on metal, 2022 (detail)

Dean Norton is a multidisciplinary designer and collaborator who develops products that consider form, function, refined detailing and harmony in materials. Drawing inspiration from personal experiences, he aims to create enduring performative works that connect on an emotional level, merging a balance between art and design whilst maintaining a minimalist aesthetic. 

Born and raised in Essex, England, Norton originally studied graphic design before continuing his journey as an interior designer, graduating in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree (Hons) in Retail Interior Design from the University of the Arts London.

Now based in Melbourne, Norton launched his studio in 2017, drawing upon his design experience to create visually engaging, locally made pieces including furniture, objects, and lighting, re-imagining a variety of sculptural forms through the exploration of finishes and materials such as glass, mirror, steel, and timber. 

Since launching his design studio, Norton’s work has captured the attention of the global design community and appreciators alike. His ‘Containa’ series was recently exhibited at Rossana Orlandi during Milan Design Week 2023, and his work has been shortlisted for numerous design awards, winning the Vivid Emerging Designer Award in 2021. Dwell Magazine (US) named Dean one of the 'best new designers out there' as part of their 24 Rising Stars list 2022, and in 2021 his Concave Convex Mirror was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria for its permanent collection.

Image credit: Concave Convex Mirror, raw polished steel, 2000 (detail)

“I like doing my painting. The truth is, I’m a bit restless and it’s hard to get to sleep at night. Doing my painting helps me relax.” –Tina Patlas

Tina Patlas began painting for Jilamara Arts and Craft Association in 2002. Although Tina’s traditional country spans areas of south west Melville Island and south east Bathurst Island (including Wurrumiyanga) she spent most of her youth growing up in Milikapiti on the north coast of the island.

Tina works in the local community for Territory Housing but has also painted at the art centre for many years. She held the position as Treasurer of the Jilamara Arts and Craft Association Executive Committee in 2003. Tina paints her own Jilamara design about country, yoi (ceremonial dance), Kulama ceremony and the wildlife of the Tiwi Islands. She has a special interest in the parlini jilamara, the old stories handed down by her ancestors.

When she was growing up, she watched her Grandfather Holder Adams paint and carve where he lived at Timrambu – just south of Milikapiti. She says, “He used to sculpt toys for us to play with. This inspired me to become an artist.”

Image credit: Painting, 2021. Image courtesy of Jilamara Arts (detail)

Kenny Pittock is an artist based in Narrm/Melbourne who works with painting and ceramics to playfully critique the everyday. Pittock has held solo exhibitions in Italy, Singapore and New Zealand, as well as in many public institutions throughout Australia.

Pittock graduated with a Fine Art Honours degree in painting from the Victorian College of the Arts, and since then has received various awards including the 2013 Linden Prize and the 2017 Redlands Emerging Artist Award. Pittock's artworks are included in many public collections including Bendigo Art Gallery, the Monash University Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Victoria. Pittock is represented by MARS Gallery.

Image credit: Melted Bubble'O, acrylic on earthenware ceramic, 2020 (detail)

Nick Selenitsch’s art practice promotes the artistic and social importance of play. Specifically, his practice privileges aspects of indeterminacy in an otherwise overdetermined modern world.

Selenitsch is an artist and Lecturer in Painting and Critical and Theoretical Studies in the School of Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. He has exhibited throughout Australia and Internationally. Nick Selenitsch is represented in Australia by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne. 

Image credit: &, pigment pen on paper, 2018-2020 (detail)

TextaQueen is a multi-genre artist of Goan descent living on unceded Wurundjeri land. Known for using the humble felt-tip marker to create majestic portraiture, their practice also encompasses drawing, painting, printmaking, video, performance, curating, writing and murals to envision an ever-expanding alternate universe of collective and transformative possibility. 

TextaQueen’s work has appeared at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Western Exhibitions, Chicago; 198 Contemporary Arts, London; and Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Germany, and is held in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, University of Queensland, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Monash University of Modern Art, Art Gallery of Western Australia and National Portrait Gallery of Australia. Mural commissions include de Young Museum, San Francisco; Murray Art Museum Albury; City of Moreland; City of Melbourne and residencies include ACME, London; International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York; and Queensland Art Gallery. Other recent achievements are a 2017 State Library of Victoria Creative Fellowship; a nationally touring mid-career survey via Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in 2017; and the inaugural Copyright Agency Partnerships Commission for ‘Bollywouldn’t’ at 4a Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in 2022. 

TextaQueen is currently developing TheySwarm, a peer-mentorship artist residency for diverse and disabled artists, in their Johnston Street, Collingwood studio. 

Image credit: Flame within the Frame, pigment ink marker and synthetic polymer paint on cotton paper, 2018 (detail)