Josephine Mead is a visual artist, writer and curator based on Wurundjeri woi-wurrung Country. 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 is interested in examining how curation can be an act of care.
She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally. 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 was an inaugural Room to Create studio artist at Collingwood Yards (2020-21), was Chair of Artistic Directors for Blindside Gallery (2020-22), is co-founder of Co- Publishing alongside Christine McFetridge, and is a founding Artistic Director of MILK Gallery.
She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally. 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 was an inaugural Room to Create studio artist at Collingwood Yards (2020-21), was Chair of Artistic Directors for Blindside Gallery (2020-22), is co-founder of Co- Publishing alongside Christine McFetridge, and is a founding Artistic Director of MILK Gallery.
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
RESIDENCIES / PROGRAMS:
2022 (forthcoming) Writing in the Expanded Field program, ACCA (Australia Centre for Contemporary Art)
2020 - 2021 Studio-artist at Collingwood Yards (through City of Yarra Room to Create program)
2020 ZK/U Residency, Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Moabit, Berlin, Germany
2019 Córtex Frontal Residency, Arraiolos, Portugal
2019 Tasarim Bakkali TAB Residency, Istanbul, Turkey
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
GRANTS / AWARDS:
2021 Quick Response Arts Grant, City of Melbourne (for 'An Ear to the Edge of Sound' online exhibition)
2021 Small Project Grant, City of Yarra (for Mono-Poly event for Liquid Architecture)
2020 Stimulate Grant through City of Yarra (for Issue 02 of Co- Journal)
2020 Whittlesea Creative Communities Fund Grant (for production of 'Covid Drawings' publication)
2020 The Myer Foundation National Assistance Program for the Arts Grant
2019 Australian Centre for Photography Most Critically Engaged Work Prize, 2019 ILFORD CCP Salon, CCP, Collingwood
2019 Australian Council for the Arts Career Development Grant
2018 Shortlisted, John Fries Award
2013 RMIT Link Arts Individual Visual Artist Grant
2012 2011 RMIT Visual Art Painting Award
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
2022 (current) Artistic Director, MILK Gallery, Collingwood
2021 (current) Communication & Administration Officer, Res Artis, Collingwood
2021-2022 Gallery Assistant, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2020-2022 Chair of Artistic Directors, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 Communications Officer, Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne
2021 Associate Producer for 'That Which Was Once Familiar' by Zoë Bastin at Dancehouse
2020 (current) co-founder of Co- Collaborative Publishing with Christine McFetridge
2020-2021 Committee member, Collingwood Yards Collaborative Committee
2020-2022 General Advisor, Free Association
2016-2020 Volunteer, c3 contemporary art space, The Convent, Abbotsford
2016-2019 Front of House Coordinator, Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne
2013 Committee member, Brunswick Arts Space, Brunswick, Victoria
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2022 To The Sounds., solo exhibition at Void_Melbourne, Melbourne
2021 . . . to conclude with ellipses . . . , Seventh Gallery, Melbourne
2020 Moving out of the Period of Heat & Rut., Project Space, Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton
2019 Open Studio Exhibition, Córtex Frontal, Arraiolos, Portugal
2019 The 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:
2022 Even More Beautiful IRL, curated by Amelia Dowling, CASPA, Castlemaine
2022 Even More Beautiful IRL, curated by Amelia Dowling, Incinerator Gallery, Aberfeldie
2022 VERNISSAGE, Void_Melbourne, Melbourne
2022 CCP ILFORD Salon Exhibition, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Collingwood
2021 Room to Create Exhibition, Studio 2, Perry St, Collingwood Yards, Melbourne
2021 Bus Projects 2021 Fundrasier, Bus Projects, Melbourne
2021 HELL n' BACK again, CAVES, Melbourne
2021 BSIDE, Blindside Annual Fundraiser exhibition, Blindside (online), Melbourne
2021 No Two People See The Same Rainbow, LON Gallery, Richmond, Melbourne
2021 Every Artist Ever, Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton, Victoria
2021 The Image, curated by Olivia Poloni, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 Paused, Whittlesea Arts exhibition, The Great Hall, South Morang
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 Disseminating 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 Gallery, 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:
2022 An Ear to the Edge of Sound, MILK Gallery, Collingwood
2022 An Ear to the Edge of Sound (ONLINE) Supported by City of Melbourne
2022 Mig Dann: Just Breathe, co-curated with Zoë Bastin, The Abbotsford Convent
2022 The Portrait, for PHOTO 2022, co-curated with Karl Halliday, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2022 Mother's Milk, co-curated with Brodie Kokkinos, MILK, Collingwood
2022 Mig Dann: The Intimacy of Scrutiny, co-curated with Zoë Bastin, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne
2022 Offering: A Fragmentary Index, Mono-Poly event for Liquid Architecture, Collingwood Yards
2021 Salt + Loving; Halophile, MOBILE program, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 DEBUT XVII: Made to Keep the Memory Alive (co-curated with Chloe Hazelwood), Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2020 TRACTION, suite of conversation series videos as online public program for Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2020 the place one lives., Satellite Program, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2014 Launch, co-curated with Jenna Corcoran, Brunswick Arts Space, Melbourne
2013 Feminine Space, Brunswick Arts Space, Melbourne
2012 Reformation, First Site Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne
SOUND DESIGN:
2021 Sound score for 'Just Breathe' - performance film by Mig Dann, shot in the Old Melbourne Gaol, funded by City of Melbourne.
EDITORIAL:
2021 Issue 02 of Co- Journal: Water
2020 Issue 01 of Co- Journal: Time
WORKSHOPS:
2021 Foundations in Electronic Music Production, MESS, Melbourne
2020 GENERATE: Working in First Nations Cultural Contexts, Footscray Community Arts Centre
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
WRITING (BY THE ARTIST):
2022 To the Sounds, poetic essay for exhibition of the same title at Void_Melbourne.
2022 'Home', Editorial essay for 'Mig Dann: The Intimacy of Scrutiny' publication.
2022 Poetic essay for 'Vas Holos', exhibition at the Meat Market.
2022 curatorial essay for 'The Portrait' exhibition at Blindside for PHOTO2022.
2022 'Mother's Milk', poetic essay for 'Mother's Milk' exhibition at MILK Gallery.
2022 Index: A Fragmentary Offering, poetic text for a Mono Poly Event for Liquid Architecture at Collingwood Yards.
2021 Sleeping Artworks, text for exhibition at Lon Gallery.
2021 that I snuck onto the page..., poem produced through the Under Queer Stars Writing Workshop through Free Association.
2021 . . . to conclude with ellipses . . ., exhibition text for exhibition of the same title by Josephine Mead at Seventh Gallery.
2021 Salt+Loving; Halophile., exhibition text for exhibition of same title for Blindside Gallery's Mobile series.
2021 You are the Weather — I am the Weather, exhibition text for Phoebe Kelly.
2021 On a train without stopping, Mantissa Poetry Review, Volume 1.
2021 Reflecting on Flesh After Fifty, exhibition review for ARENA Quarterly, No.6.
2021 A Year Reflected, text produced through the 'Otherwise Possibilities: Critical Art Writing Workshop' by Astrid Lorange for Free Association.
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
PUBLICATIONS:
2022 Mig Dann: The Intimacy of Scrutiny (edited by Josephine Mead), supported by Yarra City Arts through City of Yarra
2021 COVID DRAWINGS by Josephine Mead, self-published with support from Whittlesea Council
2020 The Image Collective, published by The Image Collective, Melbourne
TALKS / LECTURES:
Throughout 2019 - 2022 Josephine has given several guest lectures at RMIT Univeristy and Latrobe College of Art.
PODCASTS/ONLINE PROGRAMS:
2021 speaker, 'Room to Create Studio Artists - Josephine Mead', Yarra City Arts Podcast
2021 panelist, 'BLIND (cite) x Mantissa Poetry Review', online reading, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 panelist, 'Space for Change: Temporality and Liminality in the Art World' moderated by Sophie Prince for M Pavilion, Melbourne
2021 speaker, Print Screen 'Image Collective' podcast, hosted by Emile Zile
2021 convener, artist talk with Ponch Hawkes, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2020 speaker, 'How are you today?', recorded interview for Pro Prac podcast series
2019 Artist Talk, 'Judges and Winners Speak Event' for the CCP ILFORD 2019 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Collingwood
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):
2022 Exhibition review: To the Sounds by Josephine Mead, by Celina Lei for ArtsHub
2021 'Salt+Loving; Halophile', review of exhibition of the same name at Blindside by Matt Siddall for un Projects
https://unprojects.org.au/article/salt-loving-halophile/
2020 'A Good Grip', review featuring 'the place one lives.,' (exhibition at Blindside Gallery) by Sarinah Masukor for Memo Review
https://memoreview.net/reviews/a-good-grip-online-work-at-bus-tv-blindside-gallery-and-acca-open
2020 'THE PLACE ONE LIVES.,', review of 'the place one lives.,' (exhibition at Blindside Gallery) by Clare McLeod for un Projects
https://unprojects.org.au/article/the-place-one-lives/
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
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
RESIDENCIES / PROGRAMS:
2022 (forthcoming) Writing in the Expanded Field program, ACCA (Australia Centre for Contemporary Art)
2020 - 2021 Studio-artist at Collingwood Yards (through City of Yarra Room to Create program)
2020 ZK/U Residency, Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Moabit, Berlin, Germany
2019 Córtex Frontal Residency, Arraiolos, Portugal
2019 Tasarim Bakkali TAB Residency, Istanbul, Turkey
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
GRANTS / AWARDS:
2021 Quick Response Arts Grant, City of Melbourne (for 'An Ear to the Edge of Sound' online exhibition)
2021 Small Project Grant, City of Yarra (for Mono-Poly event for Liquid Architecture)
2020 Stimulate Grant through City of Yarra (for Issue 02 of Co- Journal)
2020 Whittlesea Creative Communities Fund Grant (for production of 'Covid Drawings' publication)
2020 The Myer Foundation National Assistance Program for the Arts Grant
2019 Australian Centre for Photography Most Critically Engaged Work Prize, 2019 ILFORD CCP Salon, CCP, Collingwood
2019 Australian Council for the Arts Career Development Grant
2018 Shortlisted, John Fries Award
2013 RMIT Link Arts Individual Visual Artist Grant
2012 2011 RMIT Visual Art Painting Award
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
2022 (current) Artistic Director, MILK Gallery, Collingwood
2021 (current) Communication & Administration Officer, Res Artis, Collingwood
2021-2022 Gallery Assistant, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2020-2022 Chair of Artistic Directors, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 Communications Officer, Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne
2021 Associate Producer for 'That Which Was Once Familiar' by Zoë Bastin at Dancehouse
2020 (current) co-founder of Co- Collaborative Publishing with Christine McFetridge
2020-2021 Committee member, Collingwood Yards Collaborative Committee
2020-2022 General Advisor, Free Association
2016-2020 Volunteer, c3 contemporary art space, The Convent, Abbotsford
2016-2019 Front of House Coordinator, Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne
2013 Committee member, Brunswick Arts Space, Brunswick, Victoria
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2022 To The Sounds., solo exhibition at Void_Melbourne, Melbourne
2021 . . . to conclude with ellipses . . . , Seventh Gallery, Melbourne
2020 Moving out of the Period of Heat & Rut., Project Space, Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton
2019 Open Studio Exhibition, Córtex Frontal, Arraiolos, Portugal
2019 The 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:
2022 Even More Beautiful IRL, curated by Amelia Dowling, CASPA, Castlemaine
2022 Even More Beautiful IRL, curated by Amelia Dowling, Incinerator Gallery, Aberfeldie
2022 VERNISSAGE, Void_Melbourne, Melbourne
2022 CCP ILFORD Salon Exhibition, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Collingwood
2021 Room to Create Exhibition, Studio 2, Perry St, Collingwood Yards, Melbourne
2021 Bus Projects 2021 Fundrasier, Bus Projects, Melbourne
2021 HELL n' BACK again, CAVES, Melbourne
2021 BSIDE, Blindside Annual Fundraiser exhibition, Blindside (online), Melbourne
2021 No Two People See The Same Rainbow, LON Gallery, Richmond, Melbourne
2021 Every Artist Ever, Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton, Victoria
2021 The Image, curated by Olivia Poloni, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 Paused, Whittlesea Arts exhibition, The Great Hall, South Morang
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 Disseminating 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 Gallery, 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:
2022 An Ear to the Edge of Sound, MILK Gallery, Collingwood
2022 An Ear to the Edge of Sound (ONLINE) Supported by City of Melbourne
2022 Mig Dann: Just Breathe, co-curated with Zoë Bastin, The Abbotsford Convent
2022 The Portrait, for PHOTO 2022, co-curated with Karl Halliday, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2022 Mother's Milk, co-curated with Brodie Kokkinos, MILK, Collingwood
2022 Mig Dann: The Intimacy of Scrutiny, co-curated with Zoë Bastin, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne
2022 Offering: A Fragmentary Index, Mono-Poly event for Liquid Architecture, Collingwood Yards
2021 Salt + Loving; Halophile, MOBILE program, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 DEBUT XVII: Made to Keep the Memory Alive (co-curated with Chloe Hazelwood), Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2020 TRACTION, suite of conversation series videos as online public program for Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2020 the place one lives., Satellite Program, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2014 Launch, co-curated with Jenna Corcoran, Brunswick Arts Space, Melbourne
2013 Feminine Space, Brunswick Arts Space, Melbourne
2012 Reformation, First Site Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne
SOUND DESIGN:
2021 Sound score for 'Just Breathe' - performance film by Mig Dann, shot in the Old Melbourne Gaol, funded by City of Melbourne.
EDITORIAL:
2021 Issue 02 of Co- Journal: Water
2020 Issue 01 of Co- Journal: Time
WORKSHOPS:
2021 Foundations in Electronic Music Production, MESS, Melbourne
2020 GENERATE: Working in First Nations Cultural Contexts, Footscray Community Arts Centre
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
WRITING (BY THE ARTIST):
2022 To the Sounds, poetic essay for exhibition of the same title at Void_Melbourne.
2022 'Home', Editorial essay for 'Mig Dann: The Intimacy of Scrutiny' publication.
2022 Poetic essay for 'Vas Holos', exhibition at the Meat Market.
2022 curatorial essay for 'The Portrait' exhibition at Blindside for PHOTO2022.
2022 'Mother's Milk', poetic essay for 'Mother's Milk' exhibition at MILK Gallery.
2022 Index: A Fragmentary Offering, poetic text for a Mono Poly Event for Liquid Architecture at Collingwood Yards.
2021 Sleeping Artworks, text for exhibition at Lon Gallery.
2021 that I snuck onto the page..., poem produced through the Under Queer Stars Writing Workshop through Free Association.
2021 . . . to conclude with ellipses . . ., exhibition text for exhibition of the same title by Josephine Mead at Seventh Gallery.
2021 Salt+Loving; Halophile., exhibition text for exhibition of same title for Blindside Gallery's Mobile series.
2021 You are the Weather — I am the Weather, exhibition text for Phoebe Kelly.
2021 On a train without stopping, Mantissa Poetry Review, Volume 1.
2021 Reflecting on Flesh After Fifty, exhibition review for ARENA Quarterly, No.6.
2021 A Year Reflected, text produced through the 'Otherwise Possibilities: Critical Art Writing Workshop' by Astrid Lorange for Free Association.
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
PUBLICATIONS:
2022 Mig Dann: The Intimacy of Scrutiny (edited by Josephine Mead), supported by Yarra City Arts through City of Yarra
2021 COVID DRAWINGS by Josephine Mead, self-published with support from Whittlesea Council
2020 The Image Collective, published by The Image Collective, Melbourne
TALKS / LECTURES:
Throughout 2019 - 2022 Josephine has given several guest lectures at RMIT Univeristy and Latrobe College of Art.
PODCASTS/ONLINE PROGRAMS:
2021 speaker, 'Room to Create Studio Artists - Josephine Mead', Yarra City Arts Podcast
2021 panelist, 'BLIND (cite) x Mantissa Poetry Review', online reading, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 panelist, 'Space for Change: Temporality and Liminality in the Art World' moderated by Sophie Prince for M Pavilion, Melbourne
2021 speaker, Print Screen 'Image Collective' podcast, hosted by Emile Zile
2021 convener, artist talk with Ponch Hawkes, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2020 speaker, 'How are you today?', recorded interview for Pro Prac podcast series
2019 Artist Talk, 'Judges and Winners Speak Event' for the CCP ILFORD 2019 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Collingwood
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):
2022 Exhibition review: To the Sounds by Josephine Mead, by Celina Lei for ArtsHub
2021 'Salt+Loving; Halophile', review of exhibition of the same name at Blindside by Matt Siddall for un Projects
https://unprojects.org.au/article/salt-loving-halophile/
2020 'A Good Grip', review featuring 'the place one lives.,' (exhibition at Blindside Gallery) by Sarinah Masukor for Memo Review
https://memoreview.net/reviews/a-good-grip-online-work-at-bus-tv-blindside-gallery-and-acca-open
2020 'THE PLACE ONE LIVES.,', review of 'the place one lives.,' (exhibition at Blindside Gallery) by Clare McLeod for un Projects
https://unprojects.org.au/article/the-place-one-lives/
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
