Kelly Hussey-Smith

Dr Kelly Hussey-Smith is a creative researcher with an interest in photography as a social practice, the politics of representation, and art education. She is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at RMIT's School of Art and an active researcher and advisor for the Contemporary Art and Social Transformation Research Group (CAST). 

With a background in documentary photography theory and practice, Kelly's research intersects socially engaged art, visual culture, pedagogy and decolonial theory. She is particularly interested in the intersection of contemporary documentary practice and (counter)histories. 

Kelly frequently collaborates across disciplines to connect university research with local issues through creative practice. Her current research focuses on youth history-making and collective art practices. She is a Chief Investigator on two Australian Research Council Discovery Projects: Making Histories: Young People as Visual Historians of Changing Cities (ARC Discovery, 2026-2028) andStrengthening Solidarity: Asia Pacific artists & ethical cultural exchange (ARC Discovery, 2026-2028)

Kelly has received multiple teaching awards, including an Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools (ACUADS) Teaching Award for The Photo Lab and the Doing Visual Politics education project and network (with Alan Hill), as well as an RMIT Award for Socially Engaged Curriculum for The Nurses and Midwives Art Exchange. She is highly engaged in curriculum development as a recent co-designer of a Visual Politics minor and writer of a new World-Centred Photography major for the Bachelor of Photography.

In 2018, Kelly developed 'The Photo Lab', a community-oriented education project based in Collingwood. Her curriculum innovation centres collaboration and ethics by critically addressing "engagement" and foregrounding the relational and ethical aspects of collaborative work. 

Since 2016, she has collaborated with Dr Alan Hill on Doing Visual Politics, a cross-institutional project exploring creative practice as civil action, co-created with photo.circle (Nepal) and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute (Bangladesh).

Kelly has published numerous articles and book chapters in refereed and non-refereed publications and exhibited her photography nationally and internationally. Her recent writing focuses on collaboration and ethics in arts-based education and documentary as a form of civil action. Her work has been exhibited at major institutions including the National Portrait Gallery, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane Powerhouse, and Art Gallery of Ballarat, as well as international photography festivals such as Foto Freo, Chobi Mela, and the Bandung Photography Triennale.