CV

EDUCATION

1998 -2004
PhD in Visual Culture, School for Literary, Visual and Performance Studies, Monash University, Melbourne Thesis: “Hysterical Scenes: Case Studies in Contemporary Photography”
Awards: Victor Majner Award 2004; Monash Graduate Scholarship 1998

1993-1996
MA in Art History with First Class Honours, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Thesis: “I Know But Even So: Incidents of Sexual and Commodity Fetishism in Contemporary Art”

1990-1992
BA in Art History with English minor, University of Auckland, New Zealand Award: Annual Prize in Art History 1992

EMPLOYMENT

2024 – current
Academic Engagement Research Fellow, Programs, Museums and Collections, University of Melbourne

2021-2023
Academic Engagement Manager; Senior Curator of Academic Programs, Museums and Collections, University of Melbourne

2018-2020
Curator of Academic Programs (Research), Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne

2016-2017
Acting Curatorial Manager, Australian Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane

2015-2016
Curator, Australian Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane (July 2015-February 2016)
Associate Curator, Contemporary Australian Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane (March 2015-July 2015)

2010-2015
Associate Curator, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (.6 part time) Independent curator, writer, and editor

2005-2010
Curator – Exhibitions, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2009-2010) Assistant Curator – Exhibitions, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2005-2009)

2000 – 2005
Tutor, Visual Culture, School of Literary, Visual and Performance Studies Monash University, Melbourne Research Assistant ARC Discovery Project ‘Contemporary Australian Photography 1980-Present’, Department of Visual Culture, Monash University, Melbourne

1994-1996
Assistant Lecturer, Department of Art History, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

1996 – 2005
Between these years I held full and part time managerial picture editing roles at major broadsheet newspapers The Age, Melbourne and the New Zealand Herald, Auckland, New Zealand

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

‘Kirsty Budge: Brown Mirror: Paintings from Behind’, Daine Singer Gallery, Melbourne, 2023.
‘Movement’, in Photography Real and Imagined, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2023.
‘Four Articulations’, in A Memory for Tomorrow, ed. Megan Patty et al, National Gallery of Victoria Critical Imprint Series, Melbourne, 2022 (forthcoming)
‘Process and Relationships: The Way Things Fit Together’, in Vivienne Binns: On and Through the Surface, eds. Annika Jaspers and Hannah Matthews, Monash University Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Power Institute, Melbourne and Sydney, 2022. (monograph)
ANIMAL, exhibition text for Cate Consandine and Stephen Garrett, Sarah Scout Gallery, Melbourne 2022
‘Sue Ford’, ‘Helen Johnson’, ‘Jenny Watson’, Collection Focus: Women, ed. Danny Lacy, Mornington Peninsula Regional Art Gallery, Victoria, 2022
LANGUAGE: Interdisciplinary Forum, ed. Kyla McFarlane, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Museums and Collections, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2021
WATER: Interdisciplinary Forum, ed. Kyla McFarlane, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Museums and Collections, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2021
‘Fellow Travellers’, Ruth Maddison: It was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2021 (monograph)
‘Yandall Walton / Shifting Surrounds’, Art + Climate = CHANGE II, eds. Kelly Gellatly and Bronwyn Johnson, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2021
Richard Lewer, Richard’s Disasters: A True Story, ed. Kyla McFarlane, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide, 2021 ‘Fawn in the Forest: Grant Stevens’ in This Brittle Light: Light Source Commissions 2020-2021, ed. Melissa Keys, Buxton Contemporary, University of Melbourne, 2020
‘Story of a Woman Who …’, Burchill and McCamley: Temptation to Co-exist, ed. Sue Cramer, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2019
‘The Photos that Go Down in History’ The Interpreter, The Lowy Institute online publication, 27 June 2019
‘A Robust Vulnerability’, Raquel Ormella: I Hope You Get This, ed. Rebecca Coates, Shepparton Art Museum/NETS Victoria, Shepparton, Victoria, 2018
‘Still Looking: Peter McLeavey and the Last Photograph’, Art Monthly Australasia, October 2018/Issue 311, ed. Judy Annear, Canberra, ACT, 2018
‘Telling the Story of Australian Art: The Collection Reimagined’, in Artlines 3/2017, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, 2017
‘Bright Light Wakes You Early in the Tropics, Which May Reduce Anxiety’, in STAMM online, ed. Amita Kirpalani, 2015
‘Claire Milledge: Altus Duel: Total Environment,’ catalogue essay, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, 2015 ‘Littoral’, in Derek Kreckler: Accident & Process, ed. Hannah Matthews, Perimeter Editions, Melbourne, 2016 ‘A Cool Blue Line: Sue Ford at the NGV’, Photofile, no 95, Spring/Summer 2014-15
‘In Every Grain of Sand there is a World: Angie Seah,’ Asialink Arts/Victorian College of the Arts, 2014
At Dusk, Under the Clocks: the rediscovered archive of Angus O’Callaghan, City Gallery, Melbourne, 2014
The Sievers Project – Early Career Artists’ Commissions, ed. Naomi Cass and Kyla McFarlane, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2014
Notes on Performance, Objectifs Photography and Film, Singapore, 2014
NEW14, ed. Kyla McFarlane, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2014
Drew Pettifer: Less than Lovers, M33 Publishing, Melbourne, 2014
True Self: David Rosetzky Selected Works, eds. Naomi Cass and Kyla McFarlane, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2013
‘Monumental Time’, in Composite Journal #1/2013 Jan Kempenaers, 2013
‘For the Fireplace; For the Trees’, catalogue essay, Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne, 2012
CCP Declares: On the Nature of Things, ed. Kyla McFarlane, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2012
A Different Temporality: Aspects of Australian Feminist Art Practice 1975-1985, ed. Kyla McFarlane, Monash University Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne, 2011
Without Words, ed. Kyla McFarlane, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2011
CHANGE: Monash University Collection, ed. Max Delany, Geraldine Barlow, Kyla McFarlane, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2011
‘Impure Subjects’, in CHANGE: Monash University Collection, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2010.

Hiroharu Mori: Speech Rehearsals, Faculty Gallery, Monash University, Melbourne, 2011
‘Introduction’, in The View from Here: 19 Perspectives on Feminism, ed. Victoria Bennett and Clare Rae, West Space, Melbourne, 2010
‘Christian Thompson’, in Before and After Science: 2010 Adelaide Biennial of Contemporary Art, eds. Charlotte Day and Sarah Tutton, Art Gallery of South Australia, 2010
‘Lost and Found’, in Bold Centuries: Haru Sameshima, Rim Books, Auckland, New Zealand, 2011 (monograph) Jess Johnson and Jordan Marani: Home is Where My Hell Is, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2009
Photographer Unknown, ed. Kyla McFarlane, Monash University Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne, 2009
Susan Jacobs: Security. Illusion, catalogue essay, Victorian College of the Arts Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, 2009.
Intimate Acts, catalogue essay, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, 2009.
‘Three Moments in the History of Photography’, in Testing Ground, 45 Downstairs, Melbourne, 2009 Catalogue essay in Richard Lewer: Nobody Likes a Showoff, ed. Kirrily Hammond, Monash University Museum of Art, 2009
‘The Ice Blink and the Water Sky’, Anne Noble: Ice Blink, catalogue essay, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, September 2008.
Folded, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2008
Siri Hayes: Landscapes, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2008
The Ecologies Project, eds. Geraldine Barlow and Kyla McFarlane, Monash University Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne, 2008
‘Benjamin Armstrong’, in Monash University Collection: A Selection of Recent Acquisitions, ed. Geraldine Barlow, Monash University Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne, 2007
‘Haunted’, in Pat Brassington: Cambridge Road, catalogue essay, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, October 2007
‘Falling, expanding, contracting …’ in Perfect for any Occasion: Photography Today, catalogue essay, Heide Museum of Modern Art, April 2007
‘Object Relations: Lily Hibberd’s I Want to Break Free’, catalogue essay, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne, 2006
‘Swells and shudders’, in Before the Body – Matter, ed. Geraldine Barlow, Monash University Museum of Art, November 2006
Angela Brennan – Every Morning I Wake up on the Wrong Side of Capitalism, eds. Max Delany and Kyla McFarlane, Monash University Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne, 2006
‘A History of Space is the History of Wars’, exhibition catalogue text for Sanné Mestrom, 2006
‘Kristian Haggblom’, un Magazine 7, Autumn, 2006The Last Thing I Remember … Monash University Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne, 2006
The Line Between Us: The Maternal Relation in Contemporary Photography, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2005.
‘Landscape and the Renewal of Social Space’, Photofile, no 76, July 2005
‘Anne Noble’, Contemporary New Zealand Photographers, Lara Strongman, ed. Mountain View Press, Wellington, New Zealand, 2005.
‘Attending to the Real – Documentary Photography Now’, catalogue essay, Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award 2005, Centre for Contemporary Photography, July 2005.
‘In Ruby’s Room: Anne Noble’, Eyeline Contemporary Visual Arts Number 56, 2004-5
‘Sentences Forming Stories: Ans Westra’s Maori and Edward Steichen’s Family of Man’, Handbook: Ans Westra Photographs, Luit Beiringa and Lawrence McDonald, eds., BWX Publications, Wellington, New Zealand, 2004. (monograph)
‘When We Become Nothing’, in Still Present: Exploring Psychiatric Spaces in Photography, ed. Sophie McIntyre, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, 2005
‘Catching a Wave on the Image Itself’, longform profile on Harry Nankin, Review Section, The Age, 13 November 2004
ʻOriginal reworking of the pictureʼ, longform profile on Dianne Jones, Review Section, The Age, 10 July 2004 ‘Illuminating the Past’, longform profile on Anne Ferran, Review Section, The Age, May 24, 2003
‘Dena Lester’, Eyeline Contemporary Visual Arts, Number 53, 2003-4Review of Photogenic: Essays/Photography/CCP 2000–2004, ed. Daniel Palmer, Centre for ContemporaryPhotography and Ellikon Press, in Australian Book Review, Issue 281, 2006‘Portrait of the Artist with Wine Bottle: Bill Culbert’s Photographic Collaborations’, in Bill Culbert: Light, Wine and Things, Millenium Gallery, Blenheim, New Zealand, 2003
‘Slow Release: Recent Photography from New Zealand’, Art New Zealand Autumn 2003, Auckland, New Zealand, 2003‘Pat Brassington: Work in Progress, Eyeline Contemporary Visual Arts, Issue 50, Summer 2002/2003, Brisbane, 2002-2003
‘Tear’, in On Display: New Essays in Cultural Studies, eds. Lydia Weavers and Anna Smith eds., Victoria University Press, Wellington, New Zealand, 2002‘Incisions and Excesses”, Votive: Sacred and Ecstatic Bodies, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand, 2001
‘Thoughts on the Death of Photography’, ed. Zara Stanhope, Happiness/Parallel Worlds, Adam Art Gallery/Centre for Contemporary Photography, Wellington/Melbourne, 2001Fiona Pardington: One Night of Love, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Zealand, 2001 ‘Safe: the work of Christopher Braddock’, Eyeline Contemporary Visual Arts, Number 42 Autumn/Winter 2000 ‘One Night of Love: The Photographic Vision of Fiona Pardington’, Art New Zealand Winter 1997
’Stories, Objects and Masquerades: the Sharp and Shiny Show” Art New Zealand Summer 1997
‘Splitting the Gaze: Works by Lisa Crowley’, George Fraser Gallery, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, 1997
‘Listen To This: Artspace’s Fourth Window Project’, Art New Zealand Autumn 1996

EDITING ROLES, MENTORSHIPS

Editor, Potter Museum of Art Interdisciplinary Forum Publication Series 2020-current
Editor, un Magazine volume 5, 2011
Editor, FLASH, an online journal published by Centre for Contemporary Photography 2009-2010 Managing editor for catalogue publications produced at Monash University Museum of Art, as part of my curatorial roles 2005-2010

GRANTS

Centre of Visual Art Small Grant Scheme, University of Melbourne, 2018-9
-Awarded with Dr Cate Consandine, Senior Lecturer and Fine Art Honours Coordinator and Dr Mark Shorter, Senior Lecturer and Head of Spatial Practice, Victorian College of the Arts

Engagement Grant, University of Melbourne, 2017
-Awarded to the Ian Potter Museum of Art Public Art App project, with support from Dr Susan Lowish, School of Culture and Communication and Dr Aaron Harwood, Computing and Information Technology

Besen Family Foundation Grant, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2014
Presentation and Promotion Project Grant, Australia Council for the Arts, for development and national tour

of True Self: David Rosetzky, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2013

Gordon Darling Foundation Grants, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 2013, 2011

PUBLIC SPEAKING, RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS

Over two decades, I have presented conference papers, participated in and chaired panels, opened exhibitions and presented guest lectures at numerous venues in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Recent public presentations include:

In conversation with photographer Julie Millowick at Castlemaine Art Museum on the occasion of her exhibition Surrounding, curated by Jenny Long, March 2024.

Opening remarks for Doubt (Again) a group exhibition by Lou Hubbard, Sanja Pahoki, Kiron Robinson and Lani Seligman, at Maroondah City Council, Ringwood, December 2023.

‘Paul Knight: Intimacy, AI and the Galaxy’, panel discussion for the closing weekend of Paul’s survey exhibition L’ombre de ton ombre (The shadow of your shadow), at Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, December 2023.

A conversation with Sophia Cai, Patrick Pound and Susan van Wyk to launch the publication Photography: Real and Imagined at The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, October, 2023. Chaired by Megan Patty.

‘Self and Other: Inhabiting the Spaces of Artistic Research’, keynote address, Higher Degree Research Seminar I, School of Art and Design, Australian National University, Canberra, 2021

‘Tensile Frontiers’, conference presentation with Dr Cate Consandine and Dr Mark Shorter, presentation at the ACUADS Conference: Engagement, RMIT University/Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, 2019

‘Collection-based learning in the university museum: A Potter perspective’, with Kelly Gellatly, AMAGA Symposium: University Collections: Object-based Learning, Teaching and Engagement, University of Melbourne, 2019

Keynote lecture, Cutting Through to the Lost World: a John Stezaker Symposium, Centre for Contemporary Photography, 2018

‘A Museum Made Digital’, conference presentation at The Knowledgeable Object, Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2018

‘The Artist as Curator as Artist’, lecture at the Photography Symposium, National Gallery of Victoria, 2017

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS/RESIDENCIES

Postgraduate examiner, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.
Regular postgraduate examiner for Australian National University, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, and Monash University.
Judge, Geelong Contemporary Art Prize 2022
Mentor, Blindside Emerging Curator Mentorship 2021
Research Fellow, Centre of Visual Art (CoVA), University of Melbourne 2018-current
BFA Honours external assessor, VCA, University of Melbourne, 2018
Nominator, Signature Art Prize, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2018
Judge, National Works on Paper Prize, Mornington Regional Art Gallery, 2018
Judge, Stanthorpe Art Prize, Stanthorpe Art Gallery, 2018 and 2016
Judge, Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, 2016
Board member and mentor, Un Projects, Melbourne, 2014- 2015
Mentor, Gertrude Contemporary Emerging Writers Program 2014-15
Asialink Arts residency, The Art Incubator, Singapore, 2014
Gertrude Contemporary Artists’ studio selection committee – Two-year tenure 2012-2013
BFA Honours Course Review Panel, Monash University 2012
Public Galleries Association of Victoria internship, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2009 Exhibition advisory committee, CCP, Melbourne 2006-9