Dr Susan Lowish
Lecturer, Australian Art History
Qualifications
BA in Visual Arts & BFA Hons (University of Tasmania); MA in Critical and Cultural Theory & PhD (Monash)
Biography
Susan has a background in Fine Arts, with a photography/ printmaking major. Her postgraduate study was in critical theory and cultural studies culminating in a PhD in Art History supervised by Dr Leigh Astbury. In 2005, Susan was appointed full time to the Art History Department at the University of Melbourne. She teaches Australian art history and co-ordinates subjects on contemporary Aboriginal art. An early career researcher, Susan is involved in a number of active research projects including a history and theory of exhibiting Aboriginal art in Australia - a study she hopes to expand to cover international exhibitions as well. Her most recent publications have been Recognising Indigenous Aesthetics, for the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and a critical essay on the intersection of Aboriginal and Australian art histories. The latter topic was developed into a symposium with Judith Ryan and held at the NGV mid-2006.
In early 2009, Susan will be a Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Humanities, Australian National University.
Research projects
An art history for Aboriginal Art: From Oenpelli to Ernabella.
Type of Project: 2009 RSH Visiting Fellowship
This project is concerned with the history of art from two important regions in Australia: the Gunbalanya/Oenpelli region of West Arnhem Land and the Ernabella region of extreme northern South Australia. These regions are historically significant because they have yielded one of the oldest and largest collections of Aboriginal bark paintings (the Spencer Collection) and produced one of the oldest continuing Aboriginal art centres in Australia (Ernabella Arts and Crafts). This project seeks to map an art history of these two regions that is primarily for the respective communities but will also operate as a bridge between the fields of Australian art history and Aboriginal art.
Aboriginal art history in the Central Desert: artwork from Ernabella
Type of Project: Joint Research Project
Collaborators: John Dallwitz, Coordinator, Ara Irititja Project, Social History Unit, Pitjantjatjara Council
This project looks at a specific archive of material related to Ernabella Arts, the oldest continuing Aboriginal art centre in Australia. Currently sitting in storage at the South Australian Museum, this material is yet to be fully documented or researched but includes paintings, fabric, small paper works, craft objects, documents and photographs dating back to the 1950s. The project involves assessing the archive, documenting and data entry.
Aboriginal Art on Display: Histories and Theories of Exhibition
Type of Project: Early Career Research
This project involves documenting, analysing and categorising Aboriginal art exhibitions in Australia from the first displays of drawings on paper and bark in the 1850s and 1860s through to the showcase exhibitions accompanying the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. It consists of a timeline, database and a series of critical essays.
New Visions: Histories of Art in Australia
Type of Project: Arts Faculty Seeding Grant
Collaborators: Judith Ryan, NGV Australia, the Fine Arts Network
A National Symposium, jointly run by the National Gallery of Victoria and the University of Melbourne, designed to open up discussion on the intersection of Aboriginal Art and Australian Art History and featuring a number of prominent speakers (artists, historians, curators) from across Australia.
Specialised Multimedia Learning for Australian Indigenous Studies Subjects
Type of Project: Information Technology and Multimedia Grant
Collaborators: Dr Michelle Duffy, Australian Centre
A collaborative project to design and implement an interactive web-based teaching tool in Indigenous Studies that integrates image, sound and text, demonstrating aspects of some Indigenous knowledge systems and encouraging research excellence.
Competitive grants, scholarships, awards and fellowships
2008 Visiting Fellowship, Research School of Humanities, Australian National University
2007 Joint Research Project Grant, University of Melbourne
2006 Information Technology and Multimedia Grant, University of Melbourne
2006 Joint Research Project Grant, University of Melbourne
2006 Academic Support Grant, Council of the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
2005 Arts Faculty Seeding Grant, University of Melbourne
2005 IT&MM Conference Grant, University of Melbourne
2005 Early Career Researcher Grant, University of Melbourne
2004 Arts Postgraduate Publications Award, Monash University
Publications
Book chapters (from 2002)
- Lowish 2007: Gordon Bennett: Reading Pictures, Brought to Light II: Contemporary Australian Art 1966-2006, Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery, 2007, pp. 184-191.
- Lowish 2006: 'Chronology', compiled with Elina Spilia, Land Marks by Judith Ryan. With contributions by Stephen Gilchrist, Julie Gough and Paul S. Taçon. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, pp.140-144.
- Lowish, 2003: 'Aboriginal Identity, Culture and Art' (with Denise Cuthbert, Cheryl Earnshaw, Stephen Pritchard and Ceridwen Spark) The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory 11, edited by Martin McQuillan, published for The English Association, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK: 258-265.
- Lowish, 2002: 'Aboriginal Identity, Culture and Art' (with Denise Cuthbert, Stephen Pritchard and Ceridwen Spark), The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory 10, edited by Kate McGowan, published for The English Association, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK: 259-333.
Journal articles (from 2002)
- Lowish 2007: ‘Ara Irititja: Adding more value to art through education’, SangSaeng: no.20, South Korea: Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) under the auspices of UNESCO, pp. 8-11.
- Lowish 2005: 'European Vision and Aboriginal art: Blindness and Insight in the work of Bernard Smith', Thesis Eleven: Critical Theory and Historical Sociology vol. 82, August 2005, pp. 62-72.
- Lowish 2004: 'Portrait of an artist as an angry young man', the recent work of Christian Bumbarra Thompson. Local Art 13, July 2004, pp. 6-9.
Other publications (from 2002)
- Lowish 2008: Recognising Indigenous Aesthetics. Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, [Exh.Cat.], Art Gallery of Western Australia, pp. 8-10.
- Lowish & M Strocchi. 2008: Pintupi Women. Pintupi Women, [Exh.Cat.] Melbourne, Australia: Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, u.pag.
- Lowish 2007: Too Many Tjakamarras?, Australian Book Review no.296, November 2007, pp.20-21.
- Lowish 2006: Twined Together: Kunmadj Njalehnjaleken, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, Volume 7, Number 1, pp. 204-207.
- Lowish 2006: 'A Land Mark Show', Meanjin 1/2006, pp 122 -124.
- Lowish 2006: 'Picturing the Old People', Un magazine 7 (Autumn): 28-31.
- Lowish 2006: Who Am I?: New Works from Brian McKinnon, [Exh.Cat.] Indigenart, Melbourne, u.pag.
- Lowish 2005: 'Rising Stars', [Exh. Cat.], Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, u.pag.
- Lowish 2004:' Painting Country, Fred Myers, Duke University Press, 2002', Thesis Eleven: Critical Theory and Historical Sociology, No.77, London: Sage Publications, pp. 134-138.
Presentations (from 2002)
Public lectures
- 2008 ‘Towards a history of Indigenous Ceramics’, Inaugural Indigenous Ceramics Award, Shepparton Art Gallery, 7 February, 2008.
- 2007 ‘New Internationalism and the need for something more’, Collection in Context Lecture: Tracey Moffatt, Queensland Art Gallery, 27 October, 2007.
- 2005 ‘Intersections: Figuring the Indigenous in Australia's Art History’, Inaugural Postdoctoral Lecture, Fine Arts Network, Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre, University of Melbourne, Vic.
- 2005 ‘Tracey Moffatt: Professional Artist’, Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill, Vic., 20 June 2005.
- 2005 ‘Australian Art: History, Narrative, Vision’, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park Langwarrin, Vic., 9 June 2005.
- 2004 'Filling in the Gaps: Moffatt's Meta-Narratives', part of the public program for Good Looking: Narrative Photographs Past and Present, National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne, Vic.
- 2002 ‘Australian Indigenous Painting and Photography’, Ormond College Art Club foundation lecture, Ormond College, Melbourne, Vic.
Conferences
- 2008 ‘Urban bush bashing? Some Indigenous Responses to the Australian Government's Emergency Intervention into the Northern Territory’, Crossing Cultures, the 32nd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art, University of Melbourne, January 2008.
- 2007 Chinese Whispers: Wanjina Drawings in the State Library of Victoria, Drawn Together: a two-day symposium exploring the practice and collection of Indigenous drawing in Australia, Old Canberra House, ANU, 28-29 May.
- 2006 Aboriginal/Australian Art History, Rethinking the Past: Experimental Histories in the Arts, University of Technology, Sydney 28-29 July.
- 2005 ‘Aboriginal Art: Community Culture in the Public Domain’, Third International Conference on New Directions in Humanities, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
- 2004 ‘Writing “Art” into(?) Australian Art History’, Dialogues Across Cultures, hosted by the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies at Monash University.
- 2004 ‘Episodes in the historical reception of “Aboriginal art”, from the nineteenth century’, Staff Seminar, Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, Monash University.
- 2003 ‘European Vision and Aboriginal Art: Blindness and Insight in the Work of Bernard Smith’, Thesis Eleven Centre for Critical Theory Annual Lecture and Seminar, Latrobe University, Melbourne.
- 2002 “The Aboriginal Art Revolution”, Art Association of Australia and New Zealand Annual Conference, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
- 2002 ‘Recent Developments in the Continuing Saga of the So-called Bradshaw Figures’, Postgraduate Colloquium, Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, Monash University.
Other public speaking
- 2008 Radio interview, Aboriginal Art – it’s a White Thing?, with Richard Bell, RTRFM 92.1, Perth, Western Australia, 10 am Monday 11 August 2008.
- 2008 Public presentation and panel discussion, ‘Beyond the Colour Line’, Dialogues and Dilemmas in contemporary visual art, Bureau of Ideas, Perth Western Australia, August 2008.
- 2008 Floortalk, Visiting The Great Painting, with Mr Brian McKinnon, Indigenous Project Office, National Gallery of Victoria, NGV Tuesday 29 April 2008, 12:00 midday.
- 2008 Opening Speech, Kunwinjku Songman: The First Solo Show from Bruce Nabegeyo & Lineage in Linear: The First Solo Show from Glen Namundja, The Mossenson Galleries Collingwood, in conjunction with Injalak Arts and Crafts, 6pm, Thursday 13 March 2008.
- 2007 Floortalk, Old Messages/New Media, an exhibition of six contemporary Indigenous artists, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, 26 May, 2007.
- 2007 Guest speaker, Gordon Bennett’s Tryptich, Look Out teacher program, Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Brisbane, 30 March, 2007.
- 2007 Panelist, Writing Art/History, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1 April, 2007.
- 2006 Academic Convenor, National Symposium, New Visions: Histories of Art in Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, 3 June 2006.
- 2006 Guest Speaker, Exploring Land Marks: Insights into Contemporary Indigenous Art National Gallery of Victoria Women's Association, 26 April, 2006.
- 2005 Opened the exhibition, 'Intertidal', at the invitation of the artist, Julie Gough, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic., 10 May, 2005.
- 2005 Live Broadcast , Member of panel discussion with Jane Scott, curator MGA, Jason Smith, curator NGV, on work of Tracey Moffatt. Part of Sunday arts program called 'Openings'. 3PBS Radio, Collingwood, Vic.
Professional Memberships and Editorial positions
- Member of the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (currently Victorian Executive);
- Expert Reviewer, UNESCO E-journal, Observatory on Multi-Disciplinary Research in the Arts, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning;
- Co convener, ‘Indigeneity/Aboriginality, Art/Culture and Institutions’, Crossing Cultures: Conflict, Migration, Convergence, 32nd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art (CIHA)
Teaching
Since joining the Department in 2005, Susan has coordinated 107-028 Australian Art: Rock to Pop, 107-030 Contemporary Aboriginal Art and 107-436 Postcolonial Visual Art. She has also developed new subjects 107-472 Aboriginal Art in the Northern Territory which is an 18 day intensive fieldwork subject taught on location throughout the Northern Territory and 107-409 Indigenous Photography, New Media, Film, which has been taught collaboratively with prominent Australian Indigenous artists.
Full subject descriptions are available on the University of Melbourne Handbook.
Current administration and committees
- 2006 – ongoing, Observer, Donald Thomson Collection Committee, Melbourne Museum;
- 2007- ongoing, Departmental Representative, School of Culture and Communication Ethics Committee;
- 2007 Honours and Graduate Coursework Coordinator, Australian Indigenous Studies Program;
- 2007 Member, Equal Opportunities for Women in the Workforce Committee, Faculty of Arts;
- 2005-2006, Chair, Departmental Ethics Advisory Group, School of Art History, Cinema, Classics and Archaeology.