About Me
Hello, it is Me,
Just a Melbourne girl who, if you couldn’t guess, loves her Art and History. Art was always a fun activity that could keep me focused for a significant time. Sitting there, cutting, pasting, drawing, and painting for countless hours during my early childhood, I thought I had found my great true love until I discovered history. History may be my greatest love. According to my mother, I get my love for the past from her, as she has managed to pass on her love for the past to my siblings. However, I take my love for history to another level, some may even refer to it as a crazy deep obsession for the genre, but I just think it stems from the fact I am a sucker for juicy historical drama or an absurd situation, that could not possibly be true, but nevertheless, it is.
My journey began at sixteen. Toward the end of year 10, I was selecting my subjects for my final years of schooling to set me up to get into a fashion degree at university. Ready to once again pick the fashion subject, my trustee adviser, I will call her mother, suggested I skip the design subject for the year and pick up art again, not studio art, but art with both practical and theoretical content. Hesitant at first to take my mother's advice, but eventually giving in to my elder’s wisdom, I skipped out on design for year 11 and picked art. Throughout year 11, I rediscovered and fell back in love with art, not only the creative practice but its history. By the end of year 12, I realised I didn’t want to be a fashion designer, but I wanted to keep making art and attend art school.
The three years completing my Bachelor of Fine Art were some of the greatest years of my medium-length life thus far. My artistic practice changed dramatically, from producing wearable art and photography to creating video and found imagery art. The themes explored within my art were always informative. I explore historical, political, cultural and religious topics, producing art that expresses my educational message. In my second year, I studied for a semester in Italy, and that was pretty fantastic. Living in Italy, drinking, eating and making art through its cities was such a good time, but learning about Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art changed me. I fell in love… again. In my third year, I had no idea what to do next. I avoided that decision by applying for an honour year in Art History, and lucky me, I managed to get in. Honours year had many ups and downs, more downs if I am honest, but I managed to get through. I spent my year learning more about art history and theory, researching fifteenth-century Florentine secular art. By the end of it, I realised that this was something I wanted to do. To perpetually learn and maybe one day teach people about art and its wonderful history.
So, I realised I might have found a better place to continue my academic pursuits. So off I went to Europe to do my MA in History of Art. Studying and Venice and England being closer to art and culture, fed my soul. However, UK tertiary education kicked me in the behind. Was it the English standard or Masters level that I wasn’t prepared for I am still not sure; all I know is that it was one strong academic boot camp that made me question everything, but I am now a better art historian for it.
After a year of a full-time job in the English countryside, in the middle of nowhere and a global pandemic later, I moved back home having applied for a PhD during my lockdown spare time. I managed to get into a program back at my old undergraduate and honours university, which brings me to now!!! I am in the middle of completing my research and have been doing so over the last couple of years, and it has definitely been a journey. There have, once again, been many ups and downs, though I love being able to delve into a topic that has piqued my interest as early as my honour’s year. I am also a Teaching Associate, tutoring art history to undergraduates, and I love it. I am also fortunate to work at a gallery with emerging contemporary artists, being exposed to new art daily.