Darling Darling: In Conversation

Gabriella Hirst (she/her) is an artist and the recipient of the 2020 ACMI/Ian Potter Moving Image Commission. She was born and grew up on Cammeraygal land (AU) and is currently living between Berlin and London. She works primarily with moving image, performance and with the garden as a site of critique and care. Gabriella's practice and research explores connections between various manifestations of capture and control – spanning plant taxonomies, landscape painting, art conservation and nuclear history. She is an associate lecturer in Media Studies with the RCA School of Architecture.

Zena Cumpston is a Barkandji woman currently working as a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Her work centres around Aboriginal perspectives of biodiversity and she recently released a free e-booklet that explores Aboriginal plant use. Zena also works as a writer and consultant and is currently curating the exhibition Emu Sky in collaboration with Science Gallery Melbourne, opening at Old Quad in July 2021. Through the work of Aboriginal artists including Uncle Badger Bates, Dr Jonathan Jones, Dr Aunty Vicki Couzens and Genevieve Grieves, Emu Sky explores the lens through which Aboriginal ecological knowledge has been perceived since Invasion.

Vanessa Kowalski is a painting conservator at Grimwade Conservation Services, University of Melbourne. Vanessa’s work involves the conservation treatment of all types of paintings, including traditional western easel paintings, modern and contemporary easel paintings and Australian Indigenous paintings. Vanessa has a particular interest in the conservation and preservation of Australian Indigenous art and has worked with a number of Indigenous Art Centres across central and northern Australia, specifically in Warmun, Kununurra, Kintore and Yirrkala.

Shelley McSpedden is a curator, writer and educator with a particular interest in contemporary art and site-oriented practices. She is currently Senior Curator at Shepparton Art Museum. She has worked in curatorial roles at ACMI, Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), and NETS Victoria previously.

Shelley has written widely on art and has edited a number of significant art publications. She holds a PhD (Art History and Theory) from Monash University, and has taught in the Art History and Theory programs at both Monash University and RMIT. She sits on the Arts Advisory Board for the City of Greater Dandenong.