Read a full transcript of the interview here.
What are the links between feminism, contemporary art and disability? FEM-aFFINITY, a new three-part podcast series, delves into this question by focussing on an exhibition of the same title.
First exhibited in 2019, FEM-aFFINITY is a collaborative, female-led show. It features a series of collaborations between seven female artists who practice from Melbourne’s Arts Project Australia, a studio and gallery for artists with an intellectual disability, and seven female contemporary artists.
This first episode features artist, curator and academic Catherine Bell who not only curated the exhibition, but made the collaborations happen.
Bell talks about the process behind the show, as well as the subjective nature of feminism and what the word means to her. She also discusses how she became familiar with Arts Project Australia, her collaborations with artist Cathy Staughton, and what it means to break down art world structures to give a voice to marginalised artists.
FEM-aFFINITY is a nationally touring exhibition, and is currently showing at Melbourne’s Bunjil Place Gallery. Exhibiting artists include; Bronwyn Hack, Cathy Staughton, Dorothy Berry, Eden Menta, Fulli Andrinopoulos, Heather Shimmen, Helga Groves, Jane Trengove, Janelle Low, Jill Orr, Lisa Reid, Prudence Flint, Wendy Dawson and Yvette Coppersmith.
FEM-aFFINITY
Bunjil Place Gallery
30 January—14 March
Riddoch Art Gallery
22 May—4 July
Benalla Art Gallery
6 August—17 October
This series is kindly sponsored by NETS Victoria who are nationally touring FEM-aFFINITY, assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
Produced and presented by Tiarney Miekus. Engineered by Patrick Telfer. Music by Mino Peric.
The Biennale of Sydney has announced Hoor Al Qasimi, an esteemed curator and Emirati royalty, as the artistic director of the 2026 Biennale of Sydney.
Geelong Gallery is pairing renowned Australian artists Margaret Preston (1875—1963) with the contemporary Cressida Campbell, in exploration of their mutual affinity for the Japanese ukiyo-e print.
Colossal in size and colour, Dale Frank’s paintings are staples of modern abstraction. With a current retrospective at the National Art School, curator Olivia Sophia takes us through Dale’s practice, traversing his weird and wonderful materials.
A new show at Craft Victoria asks six creatives—artists, makers, designers—to respond to aluminium as a material. All the aluminium used is recycled, highlighting the space’s new Conscious Craft initiative.
The National Gallery of Victoria has unveiled their summer blockbuster exhibition for 2024–2025. Yayoi Kusama’s signature polka dots and pumpkins, along with world-premiere work, will appear in Australia’s largest retrospective exhibition of the Japanese artist.
In a rare interview, alongside her showing in the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Tracey Moffatt talks about her penchant for the staged and surreal, going beyond identity, growing up in Brisbane and moving to New York in her thirties, and the importance of imagination.
