People

Ms Martine Corompt is a lecturer across first and second year students of Drawing, Painting and Media Arts, with a specific focus on moving image, animation and mixed media installation. Recent achievements: In 2013 Martine was commissioned by Regional Rail link for a public art project for Sunshine Railway Station. The project titled ‘Western Wilderness’ (http://martinecorompt.com/2014/08/11/western-wilderness/#1) comprised of 9 graphic panels installed as part of the station overpass, depicting local indigenous flora of the Sunshine area. The project acknowledges that rail corridors and reserves are an important sanctuary for native wildlife, in particular the endangered Sunshine Orchid (Diuris fragrantissima). Industry Experience: Exhibitions Corompt, M. 2012, 'Swarm', Place of Assembly, Schoolhouse studios Nicholson St Abbotsford, Melbourne, Australia Corompt, M. 2012, 'Tide', Tide, Westspace, Melbourne, Australia Corompt, M. and Orchard, S. 2010, 'In the garden', In the Garden, Life for Beginners, Melbourne, Australia Corompt, M. 2009, 'Scared chair with anxious cat', Trouble in Toyland, Counihan Gallery, Victoria, Australia Corompt, M. 2009, 'Fortune Teller', Sleeper, Sandown Park ticket booth Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia Thomas, D. Corompt, M. Creek, G. Mannall, S. Left, R. Valentine, J. Paul, N. and Redmond, M. 2008, 'Case', A Commonplace Book An Attrium Research Project, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand Corompt, M. and Brophy, P. 2006, 'No answer', Lush lane, Melbourne, Australia

Pia Johnson is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Art. She is currently the Associate Dean, Photography. Pia Johnson is a photographer and visual artist, whose work is engaged with performance and performativity. Her practice emerged out of a concern with issues of cultural identity and difference, stemming from her mixed Chinese and Italian Australian heritage. She is interested in reading and performing Eurasian ethnicities, intersections with gender, and the practice of photographing live performance. Pia's work has been exhibited widely in Australia and internationally including the National Gallery of Victoria, Wollongong Art Gallery, Ballarat Art Gallery, Queensland Centre of Photography, Photography Centre of Perth, Gold Coast City Gallery, Pingyao International Photography Festival (China), The Museum of the City of Cuernavaca (Mexico), PhotoAccess, Stockroom Kyneton, Edward Pearce Gallery, Project Basho Gallery (USA), Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Castlemaine Festival, Bundoora Homestead, Blindside, Mailbox Art Space and Manningham Art Gallery amongst others. Pia has been a finalist in many photography awards, including the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize, Bowness Photography Prize, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, PCP's Iris Award, Maggie Diaz Photography Prize for Women, Martin Kantor Photographic Portrait Prize, Galah Regional Photography Prize (Honourable Mention), and Darebin Art Prize. She has held artist residencies at the National University of Singapore, Studio Kura in Japan, Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, Mooramong National Heritage Homestead and her work is collected in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Bendigo Art Gallery, City of Yarra, Museums Victoria, European Centre for Culture Italy and others. In 2022 Pia is the State Library of Victoria Kerri Hall Fellowship for Performing Arts inaugural recipient. In 2023 Pia was the Artist in Residence at the Immigration Museum, and present her solo exhibition Re-Orient in 2024. Pia won the Early Career Research RMIT Research Award for Impact and Engagement in 2024. Working across collaborative and generative cross-disciplinary projects, she has had commissions from 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Punctum Inc and AsiaTOPA, the Australian National Academy of Music, Rawcus and Fraught Outfit; and she is regularly invited as a guest speaker and artistic advisor for a range of organisations. Pia is well known for her commercial practice in portrait and performance photography, working with major to small-medium and independent arts organisations and creatives in Australia. Her photographs have been published in Rolling Stone, The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Age Life and Style, Good Weekend, The Herald Sun, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, Artist Profile, Art Collector among others as well as independent and cultural papers and publishing companies such as Currency Press and Black Inc.   Pia holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts and Diploma of Modern Languages (Mandarin) from University of Melbourne and has a Doctorate in Fine Arts from RMIT University, where she is a Senior lecturer. Pia was selected to be part of the government funded Women of Colour Executive Leadership Program in 2024.   In 2023 Pia started her own podcast Out of the Frame: Conversations about Photography, which profiles contemporary photographers and artists speaking about their practice and photographic concerns today.   Pia lives and works on Dja Dja Wurrung Country, with her husband and daughter. She acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional owners of the land - always will be Aboriginal land. Personal website: www.piajohnson.com @piajohnsonphotography

Grace McQuilten is a published art historian, curator and artist with expertise in contemporary art and design, public art, social practice, social enterprise and community development. Grace is Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the School of Art at RMIT University. Her research champions inclusive models of curatorship and art history. Her work explores new approaches to the visual arts economy, including arts-based social enterprise, and explores questions of social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in contemporary art, craft and design. Grace's book publications include Variations: A More Diverse Picture of Contemporary Art, with co-authors Tristen Harwood and Anthony White (Monash University Publishing, 2023), Dystopian & Utopian Impulses in Artmaking with co-editor Daniel Palmer (Intellect, 2023), Art-based Social Enterprise, Young Creatives & the Forces of Marginalization with co-authors Amy Spiers, Kim Humphery and Peter Kelly (Palgrave, 2022), Art as Enterprise: Social and Economic Engagement in Contemporary Art, with co-author Anthony White (IB Tauris, 2015) and Art in Consumer Culture (Routledge, 2011). Grace has published widely across refereed and unrefereed publications, including creative works in literary journals, authored exhibition catalogues, working as an editor on local newspapers and engaging widely with local and national media. Grace's curatorial research makes a significant contribution to models of community engagement, particularly by collaborating with emerging artists from diverse communities and social and cultural backgrounds as co-curators and co-producers. Through this work, she has supported cross-cultural exchange between Australian and Vietnamese artists and makers; and new migrant and refugee communities including Horn of Africa communities, Burmese and Afghani communities and Pasifika communities. Her exhibitions have been presented across large, medium and small institutions and independent public spaces. Collectively, the exhibitions have reached audiences of 10,000+ and generated media coverage including in The Age, The Daily Review, ABC Radio and numerous online media outlets. Grace is the recipient of multiple prizes and awards, including Australian Research Council funding. She is Lead Investigator on ARC Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Sustainable Strategies for the Australian Visual Arts Sector' with Marnie Badham, Kate MacNeill and Jenny Lye and industry partners the National Association of the Visual Arts and Australian Museums and Galleries Association. She is also Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project 'Care and Repair: Rethinking Contemporary Curation for Conditions of Crisis' with Tara Macdowell, Michelle Antoinette and Rimi Khan. Previous ARC grants include 'Recentring Australian Art' (DP180103920, 2019-2023) and 'Art Based Social Enterprises and Marginalised Young People's Transitions' (DP170100547, 2017-2022). Industry experience: Grace has a strong background in industry, particularly as the founding CEO & a current Board Director of The Social Studio, a fashion and art based social enterprise working with young people from humanitarian migrant backgrounds in Melbourne. Through this work she has supported the start-up of eight art-based social enterprises across Australia and continues to advise community and industry partners on community development and social enterprise leadership. Professional Experiences: CEO, The Social Studio (2009-2014) Arts Project Australia, Contemporary Outsider Art: The Global Context Conference Coordinator, 2014 Melbourne School of Government Project Manager 2013 The Ian Potter Museum of Art – Guest Curator, University of Melbourne, 2010-11 & 2006 The Ambassador Newspaper Editor and Graphic Designer, Adult Migrant Education and Settlement Service (AMES), Melbourne (from 2007) Al Muhajir / The Migrant Newspaper Co-editor, Melbourne 2006 Dan Flavin Archive Research Assistant, Dia Centre for the Arts, New York, USA 2004 Research Officer, Kamcorp Industrial Relations, 2000-2002 Industry Advisory Roles: A New Approach, Financial inflows in arts, culture and creativity - report reviewer, 2023 Inner North Community Foundation - Baker’s Dozen Social Justice Fund Advisory Group (2021-22) Frankie Good Stuff Awards Judge (2019) Melbourne Business School Compass program Advisory Group (2015-16) Gertrude Contemporary Art Emerging Writers Program Mentor (2016) Social Enterprise Advisor, Melbourne Business School Compass program (2015) National Association for the Visual Arts (Industry advisor) (2013) Victorian Training Awards (Judge, Enterprise of the Year) (2013) AuSud Media Project, Centre for Advanced Journalism, the University of Melbourne (2011) Awards: 2022 DSC Teaching & Learning Award for Socially Engaged Curriculum (with Dr Kelly Hussey-Smith, Dr Fleur Summers, Dr Mark Edgoose and Dr Ruth DeSouza) 2020 ACUADS Distinguished Research Award 2019 RMIT Research Award for Impact - Enterprise 2013 Ian Potter Foundation Travel Scholarship 2012 Churchill Fellowship 2011 NAVA Emerging Curator Award 2011 Vodafone World of Difference Award