Art History Australian Research Council-funded research projects
Framing Marginal Art: Developing an ethical and multi-dimensional framework for exhibiting art by people who experience mental illness and/or psychological trauma
Dr Anthony White, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
Dr Karen Jones, School of Philosophy, The University of Melbourne
Dr Eugen Koh, The Cunningham Dax Collection
Dr Nurin Veis, Museum Victoria
Exhibiting creative works by people who experience mental illness and/or psychological trauma is fraught with difficulties. There are complex ethical considerations, and the historical tendency to exhibit these works exclusively within either an aesthetic or clinical framework confines the works and their creators to a one-dimensional identity. This project, which focuses on the exhibitions of the Cunningham Dax Collection, explores these issues. The research will generate a new methodology for exhibiting these works that is ethically sound and embraces the richness of these works. The exhibition methodology will be tested through focus groups and surveys of exhibition visitors.
Sacred ground: New dimensions in Australian art
Dr Donna Leslie, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
This project explores the work of seven contemporary Australian artists, tracing the creative development, sources and the conceptual framework of their art. In particular it will analyse a select body of work with reference to art and its relationship to spirituality. Each artist is inspired by cross-culturalism and each have investigated their own spiritual traditions, particularly within the contexts of Aboriginal Australia and Asia. This project advances our understanding of cross-culturalism and spirituality in the visual arts.
Spiritual Journeying and Cross-culturalism: The Art of Tim Johnson
Dr Donna Leslie and Dr Christopher Marshall
Australian Research Council (ARC), Discovery-Indigenous Researchers Development (D-IRD)
This project will benefit the Australian community through new research on Tim Johnson, one of Australia's outstanding contemporary artists. Its exploration of the spiritual nature and the cross-cultural aspects of his work, especially in relation to Aboriginal Art, will provide a strong basis for further comparative research on the history of the relationship between art and spirituality in contemporary Australian art. The resulting book and possible exhibition on this artist will make the fruits of this research widely known in the community.
More research projects
Further information on the variety of projects in which staff and research fellows are involved is available on their profile pages, which can be accessed from the following pages: