Josephine Mead
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Josephine Mead is a visual artist, writer and curator based on the land of the Boon Wurrung language group in so called Melbourne (Australia). She works through photography, sculpture, installation and writing to explore personal notions of support. Her recent work has positioned female family members as support-structures, considered the body as a site of discursive practice, explored notions of deep listening, and examined the temporal and sonic nature of writing and photography. She has held solo exhibitions at c3 contemporary art space, TAB Gallery (Turkey), Bus Projects, Stockroom and the Monash and RMIT faculty galleries. She has shown work in group exhibitions at a wide range of venues, including Blindside, Stockroom, Craft Victoria, Stacks Projects, Counihan Gallery, Five Walls, St Heliers Street Gallery, Kings Artist Run, Seventh, Blue Oyster Space (New Zealand) and as part of the TOMI Arts Festival (Japan). In 2018 she undertook the Arquetopia Foundation Residency (Puebla, Mexico), the Kings Emerging Writer’s Program, the Macfarlane Fund Residency (Kyneton, Victoria) and was published by Art+Australia and un projects. In 2019 she was awarded a Career Development Grant through the Australia Council for the Arts to undertake the Tasarim Bakkali TAB Residency (Istanbul, Turkey) and the Córtex Frontal Residency (Arraiolos, Portugal). In 2020 she commenced the ZK/U Residency at Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (Berlin, Germany). She is a current Room to Create studio artist at Collingwood Yards (supported by City of Yarra), is a member of the Image Collective, and is an Artistic Director for BLINDSIDE Gallery. In 2020, with Christine McFetridge, Josephine founded Co- : a Collaborative Publishing House, interested in bringing diverse voices to the fore.

EDUCATION:
2017 Bachelor of Fine Art Honours (First Class), MADA, ​Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
2014 Bachelor of Fine Art (Expanded Studio Practise), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
2012 Paris Study Tour (through RMIT), Paris, France
2011 Diploma of Visual Arts, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

GRANTS / AWARDS / RESIDENCIES:

2020-2021 Room to Create studio artist (through support from City of Yarra), Collingwood Yards
​2020-2024 External Assessor, City of Melbourne
2020 Whittlesea Creative Communities Fund Grant
2020 The Myer Foundation National Assistance Program for the Arts Grant
2
020 ZK/U Residency,  Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Moabit, Berlin, Germany
2019 Australian Centre for Photography Most Critically Engaged Work Prize, 2019 ILFORD CCP Salon, CCP, Collingwood
2019 Córtex Frontal Residency, Arraiolos, Portugal
2019 Tasarim Bakkali TAB Residency, Istanbul, Turkey

2019 Australian Council for the Arts Career Development Grant
2018 The Macfarlane Fund Residency,  Kyneton, Victoria
2018 KINGS Emerging Writers Program (through Kings Artist-Run, Melbourne)
2018 Cultural Research Residency, Arquetopia Foundation, Puebla, Mexico 
2018 Shortlisted, John Fries Award 
2013 RMIT Link Arts Individual Visual Artist Grant
2012 2011 RMIT Visual Art Painting Award


RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
2020 Founded Co- Collaborative Publishing with Christine McFetridge
​2020 Committee member, Collingwood Yards Collaborative Committee
2020 Artistic Director, BLINDSIDE Gallery, Melbourne
2020 General Advisor, Free Association
2020 'How are you today?', recorded interview for Pro Prac podcast series
2016 - 2020 Volunteer, c3 contemporary art space, The Convent, Abbotsford
2016- 2019  Front of House Coordinator, Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne

2019 Artist Talk, 'Judges and Winners Speak Event' for the CCP ILFORD 2019 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Collingwood
2019 Artist Talk, Latrobe College of Art and Design, Collingwood
2013  Committee member, Brunswick Arts Space, Brunswick, Victoria 

WORKSHOPS:

2020 Abyss Lessons, facilitated by Chantelle Mitchell and Jaxon Waterhouse for Bus Projects' Concentric Curriculum program
2020 Otherwise Possibilities: A Critical Arts Writing Workshop, facilitated by Astrid Lorange through Free Association
2019 The Two-Headed Bird: A Surrealist Writing Workshop, facilitated by Manisha Anjali through Free Association


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2021 (forthcoming) Ode to Menophila, c3 contemporary art space, The Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne
2020 Moving out of the Period of Heat & Rut., Project Space, Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton
2019 Open Studio Exhibition, Córtex Frontal, Arraiolos, Portugal
2019 T
he Translation. / Çeviri., Tasarim Bakkali Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey 
2019 The Marking., c3 contemporary art space, The Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne 
2018 "to utter aloud or render in speech", Project Space, Stockroom, Kyneton 
2018 The Conversation., Bus Projects, Collingwood 
2017 Re-Inhabiting the Vessel and working out ways to language things, Intermission Gallery, Melbourne 
2014 To Fold, First Site Display Case, First Site Gallery, Melbourne
2013 Warp, Weft and Flesh, First Site Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS/ PROGRAMS:

2021 (forthcoming) Every Artist Ever, Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton, Victoria
2021 (forthcoming) The Image, curated by Olivia Poloni, Blindside, Melbourne
2020 CAVES Fundraiser, CAVES, Melbourne
2020 INTERVAL, online group exhibition platform curated by Olivia Poloni, www.interval-interval.com
2020 B-SIDE Fundraiser, BLINDSIDE Gallery, Melbourne​​

2020 Gaze Interrupted (online) curated by Irregular Scheduled Programming, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne 
2020 Volume IV: The Delirious Org (online), Quivering in Quarantine, Melbourne
2020 The Meaning of Things (online), Craft Victoria, Melbourne
2020 ZK/U Open Haus (online), Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, Germany
2020 (Non) Sleep as Social Practice, curated by Anabelle Lacroix with Byungseo Yoo, produced between Germany and France and 
presented by Threads*sub_ʇxǝʇ online radio
2020 Kindled Sprits, Bushfire Relief Fundraiser, Clifton Hill, Melbourne
2020 Art from the Heart, Bushfire Relief Fundraiser, Block Projects, Richmond, Melbourne
2020 Rain Dance (Bushfire Relief Fundraiser Exhibition), Grey Gardens, Fitzroy, Melbourne
2020 Bushfire Art Fundraiser Show, Sister Studios, Fitzroy North, Melbourne
2019 CCP ILFORD Salon Exhibition, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Collingwood
2019 Exchange, curated by Zachary Harold, Stacks Projects, Potts Point, Sydney, NSW 
2019 Life is Art, curated by Jesse Hogan, Perspectives of Distance: Sky Arts Festival 2019, Nagano Prefecture, Tomi City, Japan 
2019 D
isseminating Information that was Hard to Comprehend, flash night curated by Katie Paine, Kings  Artist Run, Melbourne 
2019 m_othering the perceptual ars poetica, curated by Abbra Kotlarczyk & Antonia Sellbach, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick
2019 Relics of Survival, curated by 
Zoë Bastin and Kari Lee McInneny-McRae, Bus Projects, Collingwood 
2019 The Utopian Object , c3 contemporary art space, The Abbotsford Convent 

2019 Acts of Reversal, curated by Craig Easton, Five Walls, Footscray 
2019 The Distance., duo exhibition with Mig Dann, St Heliers Street Gallery, Abbotsford Convent 
2019 Seventh Annual Bus Projects Edition Exhibition, Bus Projects, Collingwood 
2019 Herland: In search of a female utopia, The Women's Library, Newtown, NSW 
2019 Love Letters to Feminism, curated by Dr Margaret Mayhew and Dr Nilmini Fernando, Trocadero Art Space, Footscray

2018 2018 CCP ILFORD Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
2018 The Macfarlane Fund Exhibition, Stockroom, Kyneton
​2018 B-SIDE, BLINDSIDE Annual Fundraiser, Blindside, Melbourne
2018 Kings Artist-Run Fundraiser, Kings Artist-Run, Melbourne 
2018 Debut XIV: like mist I am neither the sea, nor the sky, curated by Lucie McIntosh, BLINDSIDE Gallery, Melbourne
2018 Fresh!, Craft Victoria, Melbourne 
2017 CCP Salon 2017, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 
2017 MADA NOW (Honours Graduate Exhibition), Monash University, Caulfield 
2017 Feminographies, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne (as part of 2017 Gertrude Projection Festival) 
2017 Slice of Life, Craft Victoria, Melbourne
2016 CCP Salon 2016, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
2016 Paradise Lost, ​Paradise Hills, Melbourne 
2015 Exit, ​Brunswick Arts Space
2015 Give me ur attention II, Audio Foundation, Auckland
2015 Infinite delay (or spending time in the present), Curated by Julia Powles, Kings Artist-Run, Melbourne
2015 2k16, Curated by Hana Aoake, Blue Oyster Space, Dunedin
2015 Peripheral Visions (part of VAMFF 2015), First Site Gallery, Melbourne
2015 Love/City Festival: of TIME and COUNTRY, Testing Grounds, Melbourne
2014 RMIT Bachelor of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition, RMIT, Melbourne
2014 Material Interruptions, Melbourne Central light boxes, Melbourne
2014 Artist's Books (reprised), George Patton Gallery, Melbourne
2014 Superfictions, Curated by Peter Hill, Kings Artist-Run, Melbourne
2014 Crème: the affects of materiality, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne
2013 Feminine Space, Brunswick Arts Space, Melbourne
2013 An Evening of Projection, Sound and Sculpture Explorations, The Milkbar, Preston
2013 Body and Cloth (as installed photographs), RMIT display cases, Melbourne
2013 Drawing Out 2013 Symposium, Lightwell, Lightscapes Project Light Boxes, Melbourne   
2013 Bunting Bowen, RMIT, Melbourne
2012 Reformation, First Site Gallery, Melbourne
2012 Footsteps of the Impressionists, Gallery 36, RMIT, Melbourne
2011 New Collectables, First Site Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne
2011 Six Six Nine Four, Graduate Exhibition, RMIT, Melbourne
2011 Artland, Brunswick Campus, RMIT, Melbourne


CURATORIAL PRACTICE:
2021 (forthcoming) DEBUT XVII: Made to Keep the Memory Alive (co-curated with Chloe Hazelwood), BLINDSIDE, Melbourne
2020 TRACTION, suite of conversation series videos as online public program for BLINDSIDE, Melbourne
2020  
the place one lives., Satellite Program, BLINDSIDE, Melbourne
2014  Launch, Brunswick Arts Space, Melbourne
2013  Feminine Space, Brunswick Arts Space, Melbourne
2012  Reformation, First Site Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne

WRITING (BY THE ARTIST):
2021 (forthcoming) Covid Drawings, publication by Josephine Mead
2020 Working through Surrealist Score, Contribution for Issue 02 of The Debutante: The Feminist Surrealist Arts Journal.
2020 The Image Collective, inaugural publication by The Image Collective (Olivia Poloni, Lauren Dunn, Olga Bennett, Grace Wood, Sanja Pahoki, Josephine Mead).
2020 'Covid Drawings' for INSIDE, Verve Zine, Melbourne, pg. 70-71.

2020 'Sappho was known for her love poetry. Will you remember me for mine?' - Contribution for Issue 01: DISRUPT Publication by Heart of Hearts Press.
2020 recorded poem 'moving towards the sound of the body' with accompanying sound score by Canadian artist David Clark, included in '(Non)Sleep as Social practice' - 9 hr radio program curated by Anabelle Lacroix with Byungseo Yoo and presented by Threads* sub_text radio:. Produced across Germany and France. 
2020 Poetic text for Laura Carthew's exhibition 'The clouds have died' at Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton, Victoria
2020  'Fresh! 2020' catalogue essay for 'Fresh! 2020' Exhibition at Craft Victoria, Melbourne
2019 'Ode to Menophila' poetic essay to accompany 'The Translation / Çeviri' at TAB Gallery, Tasarim Bakkali, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 'Women as Columns or Pillars AKA Holding Up AKA Societal Scaffolding AKA Support Structures', poetic essay to accompany 'm_othering the perceptual ars poetica', curated by Abbra Kotlarczyk & Antonia Sellbach, at Counihan Gallery, Brunswick
2019 'The Marking.', poetic essay to accompany ‘The Marking.’ at c3 contemporary art space, The Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne
2018 'She was ready.', collection of poems produced through the Macfarlane Fund Residency in Kyneton, Victoria
2018 'I am ready for next round', exhibition text to accompany Katy B Plummer and Heidi Lefebvre's exhibition 'La Petite Veste Militaire' at Tributary Projects, Canberra.
2018 'The eyes that saw her were closed', review of exhibition by Tracey Lamb at Incinerator Gallery for Un  (online)  (Kings Partnership)
2018 'The Specifics of a Poem', selection of poems published in Art + Australia online journal
2018 'I am the Conversation.' essay to accompany 'The Conversation.' at Bus Projects, Melbourne (August 1 - 25)
2018 'They were at-once exfoliate and moisture', exhibition text for 'Deep, Dark, Desperate / Eat Your Saints' by Deborah Prior and Jess Taylor at Kings Artist-Run, Melbourne, for the  Kings Emerging Writers Program 
2018 'The Specifics of a Poem', series of poems produced through research at the Juan C. Mendez Fototeca during residency undertaken through the Arquetopia Foundation, Puebla (Mexico)
2018 'it’s more of a mere gesture than a grasp', exhibition text for Olga Bennett’s exhibition ‘Untitled_ccp_archive.jpg’ at the Centre of Contemporary Photography, Melbourne

2017 'mothering my mother’s mother: An Investigation in being in and out of time', Honours exegesis, Monash University
2013 'Feminine Space', catalogue essay for Feminine Space exhibition at Brunswick Arts Space, Melbourne

RESEARCH TRIPS / VOLUNTARY EXPERIENCE:
2018 3-day Natural Dye Workshop with master dyer Juana Gutíerrez Contreras, Teotitlan, Oaxaca, Mexico
2015 Assisted during setup of ArtHills, Bodrum, Turkey
2013 Basket Weaving Workshop, Mapuru, North East Arnhem Land, Australia

WRITING/ REVIEWS (ABOUT THE ARTIST):
2020 'A Good Grip', review featuring 'the place one lives.,' (exhibition at BLINDSIDE Gallery) by Sarinah Masukor for Memo Review
2020 'THE PLACE ONE LIVES.,', review of 'the place one lives.,' (exhibition at BLINDSIDE Gallery) by Clare McLeod for un Projects
2020 'An Act of Deep Listening./ Interview with Josephine Mead', interview with Ronlee Korren regarding 'An Act of Deep Listening.' online platform, VerveZine, 
https://www.vervezine.com/home/2020/7/12/an-act-of-deep-listening-an-interview-with-josephine-mead
2020 'The Secret Life of Things', article by Simmone Howell for The Age regarding 'The Meaning of Things' exhibition at Craft Victoria, March 4
2019 'Acts of Reversal', catalogue essay for 'Acts of Reversal' curated by Craig Easton at Five Walls Gallery, Footscray
2018 Discussion by Tai Snaith regarding  Fresh! exhibition at Craft Victoria (Feb- March 2018) on SmartArts program, Triple R radio,
​1st March 2018 from 32 minutes onward. http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/player/32/201803010900
2018 'Fresh! 2018',  catalogue essay for exhibition of the same title at at Craft Victoria, Melbourne
2017 Philament Journal: New Waves: Twenty-First-Century Feminisms, edited by Blythe Worthy and Chris Rudge (pg 109-111)
2017 'Slice of Life', catalogue essay by Sophia Cai for exhibition of the same name at Craft Victoria, Melbourne
2016 FEMS Zine:  Edition 5: 'Handmade' 
2015 'You will see: Time is the new black', Review by Robert Nelson, The Age
2015 'Infinite delay (or spending time in the present)', Catalogue essay by Julia Powles for exhibition of the same title at Kings Artist-Run, Melbourne
2015 '2k16', Catalogue Essay by Hana Aoake for exhibition of the same title at Blue Oyster Space, Dunedin, New Zealand
2014 'Support me and I’ll try to support you too', Catalyst Magazine (Issue 6), RMIT
2010 'Nan's doilies', Frankie Magazine (Edition 41)
​
COLLECTIONS:
RMIT Printmaking Collection
Various private collections






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