Art Guide Art + Book Extract: Fiona Foley Provocateur: An Art Life

Art Guide Art + Book Extract: Fiona Foley Provocateur: An Art Life

2021-09-10

Veiled Paradise, an exhibition at QUT Art Museum which surveys three decades in the extraordinary career of NAS alumna Fiona Foley, closes 26 September 2021.

If you can’t get to Brisbane to see the show—or if you’ve been but still want to know more— the biography Fiona Foley Provocateur: An Art Life offers an in-depth look at what drives the Badtjala artist. Written by Louise Martin-Chew, this biography is also record of a friendship between artist and author. Filled with intimate details and told in a conversational tone, Fiona Foley Provocateur catalogues not only the trajectory of Foley’s life and art practice, but also the historical disenfranchisement and ongoing survival of Aboriginal culture.

Head to the Art Guide website below to read an extract where Foley discusses her educational experiences, from always being an outsider and the “new kid” as a child, to attending art school at East Sydney Technical College.

Image: Founding members of Boomalli, 1987: Michael Riley, Fernanda Martens, Euphamia Bostock, Arone Meeks, Fiona Foley, Brenda Croft, Jeffrey Samuels, Tracey Moffatt, Avril Quail and Bronwyn Bancroft. Margaret Olah Photography.

Congratulations Genevieve Felix Reynolds @genevievefelixreynolds, the 2026 recipient of the The British School at Rome Residency.

This residency offers the opportunity to live and work in Rome for 3 months, in an interdisciplinary research community. The British School at Rome is a centre of interdisciplinary research excellence in the Mediterranean supporting the full range of arts, humanities and social sciences, and the residency has been made possible through the generosity of our donors, particularly Jennifer Dowling. The British School at Rome is just north of Rome’s historic centre in the Valle Giulia which separates the Parioli district from the Borghese Gardens.

Applications for 2027 residencies will open early next year. Find more information about all of NAS` International Residencies on the NAS website.
—
Genevieve Felix Reynolds, Godmode, 2025, polymer on velvet, 150 x 109cm

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Aug 24

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Congratulations Genevieve Felix Reynolds @genevievefelixreynolds, the 2026 recipient of the The British School at Rome Residency.

This residency offers the opportunity to live and work in Rome for 3 months, in an interdisciplinary research community. The British School at Rome is a centre of interdisciplinary research excellence in the Mediterranean supporting the full range of arts, humanities and social sciences, and the residency has been made possible through the generosity of our donors, particularly Jennifer Dowling. The British School at Rome is just north of Rome’s historic centre in the Valle Giulia which separates the Parioli district from the Borghese Gardens.

Applications for 2027 residencies will open early next year. Find more information about all of NAS' International Residencies on the NAS website.
—
Genevieve Felix Reynolds, Godmode, 2025, polymer on velvet, 150 x 109cm

Announcing the 2026 recipients of the Onslow Storrier NAS Residency, a three-month studio residency at La Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, awarded to a National Art School Graduate or Academic Staff Member and made possible through the generosity of Annette Onslow and Tim Storrier.

January – March: Mungo Howard @mungo_howard
April – June: Ali Tahayori @alitahayori
July – September: Corey Black @corey_max_black
October – December: Chelsea Lehmann @chelseajlehmann

A residency at the Onslow Storrier National Art School Paris Studio presents each artist with the opportunity to evolve their practice in one of the great centres of artistic excellence. The studio is located on the Right Bank in Rue de L’Hôtel de Ville in the 4th arrondissement overlooking the river Seine, near many commercial and public galleries and only a short walk to Notre Dame Cathedral. There are 270 studios that house artists, musicians and writers from around the world.

Applications for 2027 residencies will open early next year. Find more information about all of NAS` International Residencies on the NAS website.
—
Mungo Howard, Profile, 2025, found material and tacks in steel frame, 36 x 31 cm.
Ali Tahayori, Our house is on fire, 2023, video installation, six minor panels, hand-cut mirrors, plaster and wood, each panel 100 cm x 90 cm video component (4 minutes duration)
Corey Black, Malignant Recipe, 2025, digital print on lustre, laser cut and welded Perspex, 45 × 18 × 4.5 cm. Documentation: Jessica Maurer
Chelsea Lehmann, Field Remains, 2025, Oil and wax on linen, 97 × 107 cm

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Aug 23

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What`s happening at the National Art School on 6 September? RSVP to our Open Day today to find out. (Link in bio)

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Aug 22

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What's happening at the National Art School on 6 September? RSVP to our Open Day today to find out. (Link in bio)

Hear artist James Nguyen (@jamesnguyens) discuss the process of his artwork ‘Homeopathies_where new trees grow’ (2025), a site-specific installation created for The Neighbour at the Gate, now on at NAS Gallery.

In response to the exhibition, Nguyen created a large-scale suspended textile, dyed with introduced weeds and contaminated mud collected along the Duck River and Parramatta River in Sydney. These local sites, like many places in Vietnam, continue to be contaminated by Agent Orange, dioxins and toxic leachates that account for the industrial scale manufacturing of chemical weapons along Homebush Bay.

The Naarm/Melbourne-based, Vietnamese Australian artist positions his personal experiences and perspectives in dialogue with others in his interdisciplinary practice, moving between live and online performance, video, drawing and installations. This work was made in conjunction with Nguyen’s aunt, Nguyễn Thị Kim Nhung, and uncle, Nguyễn Công Chính, who you can hear in conversation with the artist in the Artist Talks archive on our website.

The Neighbour at the Gate is now on until Saturday 18 October 2025. 11am – 5pm, Monday to Sunday. Plan your visit at the link in bio.

The Neighbour at the Gate has been made possible with the generous support of the NSW Government through its Blockbusters Funding initiative.

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Aug 21

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Hear artist James Nguyen (@jamesnguyens) discuss the process of his artwork ‘Homeopathies_where new trees grow’ (2025), a site-specific installation created for The Neighbour at the Gate, now on at NAS Gallery.

In response to the exhibition, Nguyen created a large-scale suspended textile, dyed with introduced weeds and contaminated mud collected along the Duck River and Parramatta River in Sydney. These local sites, like many places in Vietnam, continue to be contaminated by Agent Orange, dioxins and toxic leachates that account for the industrial scale manufacturing of chemical weapons along Homebush Bay.

The Naarm/Melbourne-based, Vietnamese Australian artist positions his personal experiences and perspectives in dialogue with others in his interdisciplinary practice, moving between live and online performance, video, drawing and installations. This work was made in conjunction with Nguyen’s aunt, Nguyễn Thị Kim Nhung, and uncle, Nguyễn Công Chính, who you can hear in conversation with the artist in the Artist Talks archive on our website.

The Neighbour at the Gate is now on until Saturday 18 October 2025. 11am – 5pm, Monday to Sunday. Plan your visit at the link in bio.

The Neighbour at the Gate has been made possible with the generous support of the NSW Government through its Blockbusters Funding initiative.

Don’t miss the last chance to enrol in a ceramics workshop at NAS in 2025.

Places are still available in three ceramics Spring Weekend Workshops with incredible artist-educators Trisha Dean, Tania Rollond and Sassy Park.

Early discount extended to 29 August, enrol today at the link in bio.

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Aug 21

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Don’t miss the last chance to enrol in a ceramics workshop at NAS in 2025.

Places are still available in three ceramics Spring Weekend Workshops with incredible artist-educators Trisha Dean, Tania Rollond and Sassy Park.

Early discount extended to 29 August, enrol today at the link in bio.

Apply for the Schools Recommendation Scheme (SRS) and secure your place at the National Art School before you get your ATAR!

Our admissions are based on your interview and portfolio. We`re interested in your artistic potential, not your ATAR.

Mature age students and students who are not Year 12 are encouraged to apply to our main admission round before Thursday 20 November.

To learn more about preparing your portfolio or what it`s like to have your own studio space at NAS, come chat with our friendly staff and faculty at our Open Day. (RSVP link in bio)

Music by NAS Alum @harrison_chao

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Aug 20

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Art Guide Art + Book Extract: Fiona Foley Provocateur: An Art Life