Born 1988, Wathaurong Country (Geelong, Australia).

Currently living and working in Narrm (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

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2015

2014

22010

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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2022

 

2019

2019

2019

2018

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2015

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2014

2014

2013

2010

2010

2009

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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2022

2022

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2019

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2018

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2018

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2018

2018

2018

2017

2017

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2016-17

2016

 

2016

2016

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2015

2014

2014

2014

2012

2011

2011

2008

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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2022

2022

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2020-21

2019-21

2020

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2019

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2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

 

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

'At the end of each day, I'm sometimes tired,' Runway Journal, Issue #38, Spectacle ed. Natashia Matila-Smith

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, The 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

2022

 

2022

 

2022

2020

2020

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2020

2020

2019

2018

 

 

2018

 

2018

2018

2018

2017

2017

2016

2016

2016

2016

2013

2011

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

State of the Art, PBS Breakfast Spread with Beth and Nick, PBS Radio, 2 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 Thorpe and Clare Land, 3CR Radio, 11 December 2013, Melbourne, Australia

The Convertibles with Ubaldino Mantelli, Pulse Radio, April 2011, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY / MEDIA

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2023

 

2023

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2016

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2012

 

 

 

'The Purple Shall Govern: Roberta Joy Rich speaks to Matariki Williams,' Art News Aotearoa, Issue 200.

'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.

'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.