Pollyxenia Joannou, Red Tipped Sacks (detail) 2018 calico, acrylic, paint, rice, cotton, each sack 20x50cm
Pollyxenia Joannou is a widely experienced artist and teacher. She currently teaches experimental drawing at the National Art School and best known for her three dimensional and felt works in which drawing is expanded and reconceptualised as an artistic practice in its own right.
Born in Sydney, Joannou holds a MA in Communication Design from Central Saint Martins in London, UK and a BA Visual Arts from the College of Fine Arts (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. Polly has been the recipient of the Redland Art Prize, the NSW Travelling Art Scholarship and the Dyason Bequest from the Art Gallery of NSW. Residencies awarded include the Arthur Boyd Residency, Italy (Australia Council), the Moya Dyring Residency, Paris (Art Gallery of NSW), The Onslow Storrier Residency, Paris (National Art School) for 2006 and 2017, DRAWinternational, France, WASPS Studios, Glasgow, UK, the Gunnery Studio, Sydney (NSW Ministry for the Arts). Polly is also represented in the Art Gallery of NSW, Artbank Australia, University of Sydney, Redland Art Gallery and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Europe and the UK.
Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Beyond Bliss, Bangkok Art Biennale Bangkok, Thailand 2018 Installation View
Phaptawan Suwannakudt is a Thai-Australian artist who works in interdisciplinary forms that include painting, sculpture and installation, informed by Buddhism, women’s issues and cross-cultural dialogue.
Born in Thailand, 1959, Suwannakudt trained as a mural painter with her late father Paiboon Suwannakudt and led a team of painters that worked in Buddhist temples throughout Thailand during the 1980s-1990s. She was also involved in the women artists group exhibition Tradisexion in 1995 and in Womanifesto. She relocated to Australia in 1996 and completed an MVA at Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney University. She has exhibited extensively in Australia, Thailand and internationally including Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia, Museum of Anthropology, UBC, Vancouver, Canada (2017) Retold-Untold Stories, Chiang Mai (2014) and Sydney (2016), Thresholds: Contemporary Thai Art, New York (2013) and the18th Biennale of Sydney: All Our Relations (2012). she was selected to participate in Beyond Bliss the Bangkok Art Biennale, Thailand (2018-9) Most recently her work was included in Asia TOPA 2020, Art Centre Melbourne and The National 2021, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Her works are in public collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Bank Sydney, the National Art Gallery of Thailand and the National Gallery Singapore.
Q & A lead by director John Cruthers followed by drinks
After three decades as an adviser, collection curator and collector, John opened 16albermarle Project Space in mid 2019 to present contemporary southeast Asian art to Australian audiences.
