Born 1988, Wathaurong Country (Geelong, Australia).
Currently living and working in Narrm on Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri Country (Melbourne, Australia).
EDUCATION
2013
2010
2009
Master of Fine Arts Degree with APA Scholarship, Monash University.
Honours Degree of Bachelor of Fine Art with First Class Honours, Monash University.
Bachelor of Fine Art, Monash University.
SELECTED AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
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2019-20
2019-20
2018
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2015
2014
22010
Counterflows, UTP x Arts House
Footscray Art Prize; Main Prize Winner, Footscray Community Arts.
The Churchie Emerging Art Prize; finalist, Institute of Modern Art.
Debra Porch Residency at Cemeti Institute for Art and Society, Indonesia.
ACMI x Ian Potter Cultural Trust Artist Development Grant.
Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change; finalist.
Australia Council for the Arts; Debra Porch Award.
BLINDSIDE in partnership with the National Trust, Mooramong Residency.
Studio Residency, Testing Grounds, Melbourne.
Culture LAB Grant, Arts House, Melbourne.
Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa.
TwilSharp Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Emerging Creative Leaders Program at Footscray Community Art Centre
NAVA Freedman Foundation Scholarship
Assemblage Studio Residency, Johannesburg, South Africa
NAVA Sainsbury Sculpture Grant
Australia Council for the Arts; ArtStart Grant
Linden Art Prize; finalist, Linden New Art.
National Gallery of Victoria Trustees Award
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
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2023
2022
2019
2019
2019
2018
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2014
2013
2010
2010
2009
Lying Inside, Biannual Facade Commission, La Trobe Art Institute, Djaara Country (Bendigo).
The Purple Shall Govern, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), Western Australia.
The Purple Shall Govern, as a part of 'Who's Afraid of Public Space?' presented at Footscray Community Arts in partnership with the Australia Centre for Contemporary Arts, Footscray and Melbourne, Australia.
At the end of each day, I'm sometimes tired, TCB Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia
WE KOPPEL, WE DALA, Metro Arts, Brisbane, Australia
The Fairest Cape? An account of a Coloured, Firstdraft, Sydney, Australia
Nie Deny Nie, FELTspace, Adelaide, Australia
The Fairest Cape? An account of a Coloured, Bus Projects, Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia
Coloured™, Greatmore Studios, Woodstock, Cape Town, South Africa
M/other Land, Arts House, North Melbourne as part of Next Wave Festival, Australia
TwilSharp Studios, Bertrams, Johannesburg, South Africa
Deny/Denial/Denied, Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia
Deny/Denial/Denied, Bubblegum Club, Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa
I'm Cornered, FELTspace, Adelaide, Australia
EK IS LIG, EK IS DONKER (I AM LIGHT, I AM DARK), Linden New Art, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia
The Task of the Translator (Part II), Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Ek, Jy, Ons / I, You, We, Techno Park Studios, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia
Ek is in ‘n Hoek Vasgekeur (I’m Cornered), MADA Postgraduate Gallery, Caulfield, Victoria, Australia
Les Een, Australiese Gesegdes, Kings Artist Run Initiative, Melbourne, Australia
The Invisible Clings to the Visible, Trocadero Art Space, Footscray, Victoria, Australia
Outside the Square, Inside my Box, Platform Public Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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2018
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2016-17
2016
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2016
2015
2014
2014
2014
2012
2011
2011
2008
Everything You Can Dream of is True, Urban Theatre Projects x West Space, Darug and Narrm screening program.
A Whisper Echoes Loudest, curated by Nikita Holcombe, Fairfield City Museum & Gallery, New South Wales.
And she was wearing trousers: a call to our heroines, Arts House, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Conscious Projections, ArtSpace on Realm, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia.
BINTA, curated by Kevin Diallo, Curl Curl Creative Space, North Curl Curl, Sydney, Australia.
Stimulus Package, curated by Madé Spencer-Castle as part of Darebin City Council FUSE Festival, Australia.
Creative Women Month Art Auction, Between 10and5, South Africa (online).
Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change, Incinerator Gallery, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia
West Projections Festival, Momentum, Online Exhibition (due to Covid-19), Australia.
Speak softly, tread heavily, curated by Talia Smith, Peacock Gallery, Auburn, Sydney, Australia.
The Freedman Foundation Traveling Exhibition 2019, UNSW Galleries, Sydney, Australia.
Art After Dark, Sister Gallery Satellite exhibition, with SASA Gallery, Adelaide, Australia.
Representation, Remembrance and the Memorial, curated by Brook Andrew & Jessica Neath,
MADA Gallery, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Transmissions, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, South Africa.
Izandla Zethu, curated by Mlondolozi Hempe, UkhambaBeerworx, Woodstock, Cape Town, South Africa.
Duck on the Pond, curated by Darcey Bella Arnold, Princes Park Football Oval, Melbourne, Australia.
3y3k, TwilSharp Studios, Bertrams, Johannesburg, South Africa
Transcendence, curated by Nanette Orly, Firstdraft, Woolloomooloo, Sydney, Australia.
Emerging Cultural Leaders 2017 Showcase, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
Prints on Paper and Priest present, Parable and Parabole, Priest Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship Exhibition 2017, UNSW Galleries, Sydney, Australia.
One Colour at a Time: Contemporary Screen Prints, Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Capturing State, curated by Minenkulu Ngoyi and Isaac Zavale, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival,
Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa.
FLUXUS NOW, curated by Space Space Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Situation, curated by Bahlakoana Lesemane, Tshego Mabaso, Gontse Mathabathe & Kerry Skinner,
The Point of Order, Wits University Project Space, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Shift, curated by Gontse Mathabathe and Louise Van Der Bijl, Assemblage, Johannesburg, South Africa.
No Man's Land, curated by Teboho Ralesai, SOMA Art + Space, Maboneng, Johannesburg, South Africa.
White lies: As we know it, curated by Roberta Rich, Incinerator Gallery, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia.
Hello New Beginnings!, Assemblage, Ferreirarsdorp, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Future Communication, curated by Natalya Maller, Blindside, Melbourne, Australia.
I’m Trying to Talk to You, curated by Roberta Rich, The Substation, Newport, Victoria, Australia.
Moon Lairs, curated by Kati Elizabeth, Little Woods Gallery, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia.
Linden Art Prize, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.
MoNOW (Manifestations of Now), curated by Sapna Chandu. No Vacancy: Federation Square, Melbourne.
Yeah we’ve all been there, curated by Devon Ackermann, Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia.
Everything is going to be alright, curated by Devon Ackermann, Trocadero Art Space, Footscray, Victoria.
Giornata del Contemporaneo, Palazzo Vaj, Prato, Italy
SELECTED COLLABORATIVE & PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS
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2024
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2022
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2021
2020-21
2019-21
2020
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2016
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
afro-fractions, Roberta Joy Rich & Samira Farah, Runway Journal as part of Counterflows Conversations
Counterflows as part of Conversations, published at Runway Journal.
Artist Advisory Committee, Bus Projects
'Aunties Curtain,' by Roberta Joy Rich, And she was wearing trousers
Co-curator with Naomi Velaphi, And she was wearing trousers, Arts House, North Melbourne, Australia.
13 Artworks by Roberta Joy Rich, BROWNFACE Issue, Cordite Poetry Review
Art Mentor with mentee Daisy Nduta as part of Signal’s Young Creatives Award.
Maribyrnong City Council Arts Ambassadors Committee, Melbourne, Australia.
'(Re) Presenting – Melbourne Art Book Fair Reflections', ARI Remix Project, Queensland
Collaboration with Ava Amedi, 'Copies Can Lead,' Liminal Magazine
Collaboration with Abyss, The Cinema of the Past Begins with a Battle, West Projections Festival,
Trocadero Arts Space, Footscray, Victoria, Australia.
Her Africa is Real, Part A: It’s speachy, Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne.
38 frames at 68 de korte: an encounter, ‘round table’ discussion, TwilSharp Studios, Johannesburg.
‘WHITE LIES: As we know it,’ Catalogue essay, Incinerator Gallery
Installation Technician, Soxhibition; The Social Studio, fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne
Curator, White lies: As we know it, Incinerator Gallery, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia
Curator, I’m Trying to Talk to You, Th e Substation, Newport, Victoria, Australia.
‘Oorspronklik,’ Master of Fne Art thesis, Monash University.
‘Excerpt Exhibition’, curated Devon Ackermann, Excerpt Magazine, Issue 4, Melbourne, Australia.
Writing performance in Still Gratuitous, Fiona MacDonald; Light Projects, Northcote, Victoria, Australia.
Performance artist in Anti-Vertical Expanded Demonstration; The Politics of Art, Alex Martinis Roe, Linden New Art, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.
SELECTED TALKS & PRESENTATIONS
2023
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2020
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2016
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2016
2016
2013
2011
Roberta Joy Rich: The purple shall govern, Kaya Radio Perth, Podcast episode available on Apple and Spotify.
Call and Response: Dialogues of making across continents with Jabu Nadia Newman, blk banaana, Rara Zulu
and Kirsty Marillier, Arts House, Melbourne.
'A call to heroines + Michaye Boulton's seascapes + Joel Sherwood Spring' on The Art Show with Daniel Browning, ABC Radio National, Australia.
ACCA’s Art Club, as part of ‘Who’s Afraid of Public Space?’ Footscray Community Arts, Melbourne.
Who’s Afraid of Public Space? Think Tank #2 – Collaboration and Community, ACCA Online Panel
Artist + Curator Symposium; Identity and Community, Incinerator Art Award Online Panel
Between the work, West Projections “Momentum” Festival, Online artist forum.
Public Records: Artist Run Archives in Australia, NGV International, Melbourne, Australia
'Where Are You Now,' interview with Ava Amedi, Testing Grounds, Melbourne, Australia
Phone Home with Steven Rhall as part of West Projections Festival, Footscray, Melbourne.
Decolonising Stories : A listening event, Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne.
The Fall associated program, as part of Big World, Up Close. Artists include Paola Balla, Declan Furber Gillick, Aseel Tayah, Samah Sabawi, Sello Molefi, Astrid Mbani, Roberta Joy Rich and Candy Bowers.
Representation and Speaking: A performance and conversation with Roberta Rich, Naomi Velaphi
and Sista Zai Zanda, Bus Projects, Melbourne, Australia
The Dankish with EEE, Mike Fullstop and Sircula, Bush Radio 89.5FM, 9 June 2018, Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Diary, with Hadley Tituss, Fine Music Radio 101.3FM, 8 June 2018, Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Talk Radio Interview, 567AM, Cape Town, South Africa
Hip Sista Hop with Sista Zai, 3CR Radio, 13 August 2017, Melbourne, Australia
Foley: Creature from the Black Platoon with Professor Gary Foley, Incinerator Gallery
Project Yarnin' Film Screening with Robert 'Bobby' Nicholls, Incinerator Gallery
White lies: As we know it, Curator talk, Incinerator Gallery, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia
Deny/Denial/Denied Artist talk with Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi, Bubblegum Club, Johannesburg, South Africa
Fire First with Robbie Th orpe and Clare Land, 3CR Radio, 11 December 2013, Melbourne, Australia
Th e Convertibles with Ubaldino Mantelli, Pulse Radio, April 2011, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY / MEDIA
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2016
2012
2012
'The Purple Shall Govern: Roberta Joy Rich speaks to Matariki Williams,' Art News Aotearoa, Issue 200.
'Vogue Vanguard: Pure Imagination; The artists we're watching in 2024...' in Vogue, January Issue, pp 58.
'Perth art gallery turns purple for exhibition exploring legacy of apartheid,'
Emma Wynne, ABC NEWS and ABC Radio Perth, 13 November.
‘Why are hundreds of ancient Thai relics locked in legal limbo?’ ABC The Art Show, 8 November.
'PICA presents Roberta Joy Rich major solo exhibition The Purple Shall Govern,'
Tanya MacNaughton, The West Australian, 4 November.
'The Untrained Eye,' Sebastian Henry-Jones, Catalogue essay for The Churchie & Institute of Modern Art.
'Southern African creatives honour heroines at Arts House,' in Melbourne Magazine, July - December Issue.
'Solidarity in Resistance,' by Dr. Zayd Minty in Who’s Afraid of Public Space, Max Delany, Miriam Kelly and Annika Kristensen (eds.), Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia.
'Personal stories, history & multi-disciplinary practice with Roberta Joy Rich' Colour Box Studios, 29 September.
Nanette Orly, ‘How artists turned to the postal service,’ Art Guide Australia, Issue 128.
Roxy Lola, ‘10 Talks to the Industry Members behind FBI Radio’s Digital Art Auction,’ June 19, 10Magazine.
WordPower: Language as Medium ed. Sarah Peace, published by Library X, United Kingdom, 2019.
'Place / Psyche / Power,' by Cher Tan, Sister Gallery, Adelaide, Australia.
'Concepts of identity untangled by emerging artist Roberta Joy Rich,' Howlinn, 28 July, 2018.
Christa Dee, ‘Space Space Gallery: Challenging institutionalized art spaces and curatorial practices’ Bubblegum Club, Johannesburg, South Africa
If we all spat at once they'd drown: DRAWINGS ABOUT CLASS, ed. and published by Sam Wallman.
Projecting on a Gender, The MX Newspaper, Melbourne, 18 April, 2012.
Bridie Byrne, ‘Roberta Rich is questioning racial stereotypes through art in the Manifestations of Now exhibition’ The Maribyrnong Leader, 10 April, 2012.
© Copyright Roberta Joy Rich 2024. All images by and courtesy of the artist unless otherwise credited.