Behind the Art

Artist in Residence Melissa Mills speaks with Easton Dunne about her practice and the work she's making during her residency at RMOA.

Melissa Mills

Melissa Mills is a photographer whose cultural inheritance is the innate connection and grounding she has with her Ancestral homelands of the Ghungulu, Karingbal/Garingbal and Bidjara Peoples of the Central Queensland regions.

Mills’ photographic practice is underpinned by a commitment to working collaboratively with her subjects to craft photographic narratives together that allow subjects to feel empowered to share the story of who they are through the images captured. Mills has been photographing professionally since 2015, has won international awards, and holds International Accreditation as an Associate Photographer with The Portrait Masters.

Artist Julie Fragar speaks with RMOA Director Jonathan McBurnie about her show Biograph, which was also curated by Jonathan.

Hamish Sawyer speaks with Emily Wakeling about the Bayton Award 2023.

Hamish Sawyer is a curator, writer and currently the

Anitha Menon talks with Easton Dunne about her practice and inspirations from the RMOA collection during her time as artist in residence at the museum.

Pat Hoffie speaks with Jonathan McBurnie about her involvement in the WrestleMANIA exhibition. Hoffie discusses the biblical influences, as well as that of outsider artist Henry Darger, in her large scale paintings. Touching upon her artistic process, Brisbane’s Festival Hall (once a key venue for pro wrestling for Queensland) and conspiracy theory, Hoffie offers fascinating insight into studio practice.

Locust Jones speaks about his large scale drawings made for WrestleMANIA. Jones’ pieces are made as realtime responses to the global news cycle, and circumnavigate the artist’s sense of outrage, the absurd and tragedy, trying to make sense of the static. Jones discusses his early experiences of televised wrestling during his New Zealand childhood and incorporating its larger-than-life iconography into his larger-than-life drawings.

Erica Gray speaks about her textile installation exhibited in WrestleMANIA. Gray plays with the theatrical, performative aspects of Wrestlers and their audiences to create a vivid representation of the (melo)drama of wrestling.

Bruce Reynolds discusses his work for WrestleMANIA. With an enduring interest in the antiquity and remix culture, Reynolds reflects upon his limited childhood experience with television and, through it, wrestling.

Peter Hudson in conversation with Jonathan McBurnie

Euan Macleod in conversation with Jonathan McBurnie

Euan Macleod was featured in the exhibit WrestleMANIA at Rockhampton Museum of Art during 2022-2023. This episode explores MacLeod’s experience and thought process on creating his work, particularly diving into his personal connection to wrestling and how it inspires him to create.