From the National Gallery of Australia, NGA Art Talks connects you to the artists, creatives and ideas shaping culture today.
Find out more at nga.gov.au
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From the National Gallery of Australia, NGA Art Talks connects you to the artists, creatives and ideas shaping culture today.
Find out more at nga.gov.au
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the United Nations International Women's Year (IWY) the 2025 Betty Churcher AO Memorial Oration celebrates diverse voices and the contributions of artists internationally. Join us for a conversation between ground-breaking feminist artist Judy Chicago and award-winning author and art historian Katy Hessel. Recorded across two continents, delve into Chicago’s experiences as a woman artist from the 1960s to today, how gender has shaped her art and career, and what still needs to be done for gender equality in the arts.
Painter, teacher, art critic, television host, author and gallery director, Betty Churcher AO (1931-2015) was part of the lifeblood of the visual arts in Australia. While her father believed ‘education spoiled a girl’, Churcher fought to complete her studies, further her education in London, and to forge a path for women to take positions of authority in the arts in Australia. She was the first woman to head a tertiary institution, become director of a state gallery, and to lead the National Gallery of Australia.
Affectionately dubbed ‘Betty Blockbuster’ for her love of bringing major international exhibitions to Australia, Churcher was passionate about making art relevant and accessible. In honour of her legacy, every year since 2022 the Gallery has hosted the Betty Churcher AO Memorial Oration, featuring leading women in the arts who inspire creativity, inclusivity, engagement and learning.
Judy Chicago is an American feminist artist, art educator, and author known for her large-scale installation pieces, which examine the role of women in history and culture. During the 1970s, Chicago founded the first feminist art program in the United States at California State University, Fresno.
Katy Hessel is an art historian, curator, broadcaster and author of The Story of Art without Men. She runs @thegreatwomenartists, an Instagram account that celebrates women artists and hosts The Great Women Artists podcast.
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Join Director of Tate, UK, Maria Balshaw CBE, for an excerpt from her 2023 Betty Churcher AO Memorial Oration.
Painter, teacher, art critic, television host, author and gallery director, Betty Churcher AO (1931-2015) was part of the lifeblood of the visual arts in Australia. While her father believed ‘education spoiled a girl’, Churcher fought to complete her studies, further her education in London, and to forge a path for women to take positions of authority in the arts in Australia. She was the first woman to head a tertiary institution, become director of a state gallery, and to lead the National Gallery of Australia.
Affectionately dubbed ‘Betty Blockbuster’ for her love of bringing major international exhibitions to Australia, Churcher was passionate about making art relevant and accessible. In honour of her legacy, every year since 2022 the Gallery has hosted the Betty Churcher AO Memorial Oration, featuring leading women in the arts who inspire creativity, inclusivity, engagement and learning.
As we count down to the 2025 oration – featuring feminist artist Judy Chicago in conversation with art historian Katy Hessel – we revisit these orations from women who share Churcher's groundbreaking spirit.
Maria Balshaw was appointed as Director of Tate in 2017, and like Betty Churcher, was the first woman to hold this position. A champion of inclusivity, under Maria’s leadership Tate has reframed its global context including elevating the climate crisis, gender equity, and decolonisation. You can view Maria's entire oration here: https://nga.gov.au/on-demand/betty-churcher-memorial-oration-2023/
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Painter, teacher, art critic, television host, author and gallery director, Betty Churcher AO (1931-2015) was part of the lifeblood of the visual arts in Australia. While her father believed ‘education spoiled a girl’, Churcher fought to complete her studies, further her education in London, and to forge a path for women to take positions of authority in the arts in Australia. She was the first woman to head a tertiary institution, become director of a state gallery, and to lead the National Gallery of Australia.
Affectionately dubbed ‘Betty Blockbuster’ for her love of bringing major international exhibitions to Australia, Churcher was passionate about making art relevant and accessible. In honour of her legacy, every year since 2022 the Gallery has hosted the Betty Churcher AO Memorial Oration, featuring leading women in the arts who inspire creativity, inclusivity, engagement and learning.
As we count down to the 2025 oration this International Women’s Day – featuring feminist artist Judy Chicago in conversation with art historian Katy Hessel – we revisit past orations from women who share Churcher's groundbreaking spirit.
In this episode, you’ll hear from another Australian trailblazer: Dame Quentin Bryce, Australia's 25th and first female Governor-General. Dame Quentin devoted attention to social justice and human rights issues, placing special emphasis on promoting and protecting the rights of the country’s First Nations peoples.
Recorded during her lecture in Canberra in 2024, Bryce reflects on the life and legacy of her friend Betty Churcher and celebrates the contributions of women in the arts.
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Ben Quilty was born in 1973 in Sydney. He emerged in the early 2000s with a breakthrough series of 14 paintings of his beloved 1972 Holden LJ Torana. Working across drawing, printmaking, sculpture and installation, Ben exhibits prolifically both locally and internationally, exploring imagery and ideas that are at once personal, political and cultural. The National Gallery has been collecting Quilty’s work since 2007.
Artworks discussed:
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Jenny Watson is an Australian artist who has been painting for more than four decades. Born in Melbourne in 1951, her work is inspired by punk and feminism, her memories and dreams, fantasies and fears—and in particular her love of horses. She employs collage, text, self-portraiture and humour to create powerful narratives about growing up in the suburbs and making her way in the world. In 1993 she was the first female artist to represent Australia in a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale.
Works of art discussed:
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Urs Fischer was born in Switzerland in 1973. Now based in Los Angeles, he creates works of art from materials as varied as gesso, photography, latex, paint, bronze, clay, steel, dirt, and even food. His wildly original, often humorous images and objects can disorient, bewilder, and often amaze. He's possibly best known for his ephemeral wax candle sculptures, which gradually burn down while they're on display, before being recast. In 2018, the National Gallery acquired Fischer's four metre high wax candle sculpture, Francesco.
Works of art discussed:
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Juz Kitson was born in Sydney, and divides her time between the Australian south coast and Jingdezhen the ‘porcelain capital’ of China. Her intricate, evocative sculptures—which she creates from materials including porcelain, fur, paraffin wax, silk, resin, glass and bone—begin, she says, from ‘gathering resources, experiences, and connections—human connection, connection to land, and connection to different customs and culture’. The result is a body of work that explores, in the artist’s words ‘sex, the nature of humans and animals, ideas of womanhood, birth and death’. The National Gallery has five of her works in its collection.
Works of art discussed:
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Archie Moore was born in 1970 in Toowoomba, Queensland and is of Kamilaroi and Bigambul heritage. He works across media in conceptual, research-based portrayals of self and national histories. His ongoing interests include key signifiers of identity (skin, language, smell, home, genealogy, flags), the borders of intercultural understanding and misunderstanding and the wider concerns of racism. In 2024, Moore represented Australia at the Venice Biennale; his exhibition, kith and kin was awarded the Golden Lion for best National Participation. The National Gallery has collected Moore’s work in depth since 2012.
Works of art discussed:
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Julie Rrap is an Australian artist born in 1950 in Lismore, New South Wales. She has 15 works of art in the national collection, including Persona and shadow: puberty 1984 from her Persona and shadow series which is currently on display in the touring exhibition Know My Name: Australian Women Artists. In this episode of Artists’ Artists, host Jennifer Higgie speaks with Rrap about four works of art from the national collection that explore history, humour and biography. To find out more visit www.nga.gov.au
Artworks Discussed:
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The Indonesian ceramic artist Albert Yonathan Setyawan was born in 1983 and is based in Tokyo, Japan. His monumental installation Shelters 2018-19 was commissioned for the national collection in 2018. In this episode of Artists’ Artists, host Jennifer Higgie chats with Setyawan about ideas of repetition, silence and materiality in four very different works from the national collection. To find out more visit www.nga.gov.au
Artworks Discussed:
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Bridget Riley is a British artist who was born in 1931 and lives in London, UK. The National Gallery has 15 works of art by Riley in its collection, including the new acquisition Dancing to the music of time 2022. In this episode of Artists’ Artists, host Jennifer Higgie visits Riley in her London home to talk about four works of art from the national collection that mark seminal moments in the artist's career. To find out more visit www.nga.gov.au
Artworks Discussed:
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Danie Mellor is an Australian artist of Ngadjon and Mamu heritage who was born in 1971 and lives in Bowral, NSW. There are 33 works of art by Mellor in the national collection, including An Elysian city (of picturesque landscapes and memory) 2010 and five metal‑work sculptures. In this episode of Artists’ Artists, host Jennifer Higgie speaks with Mellor about four works of art in the national collection that creatively respond to the culture and politics of their time. To find out more visit www.nga.gov.au.
Artworks Discussed:
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Janet Laurence is an Australian artist who was born in 1947 and lives in Warrang/Sydney. Laurence has nine works in the national collection and in 2020–21, her installation Requiem 2020 was included in the National Gallery exhibition Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now: Part One. In this episode of Artists' Artists, host Jennifer Higgie chats with Laurence about four works from the national collection that reflect, in very different ways, the relationship between art and the natural world. To find out more visit www.nga.gov.au
Artworks Discussed:
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