Meet the Curators
2023
Freja Carmichael
Freja Carmichael is Ngugi belonging to the Quandamooka People of Moreton Bay. Over the past decade she has worked alongside First Nations artists and communities as an independent curator on exhibitions, programming, collection research and writing. Freja’s work is focused on promoting and documenting creative fibre practices and creating sites of sharing and cross-cultural exchanges through collaborative curatorial approaches. Recent curatorial projects have included national touring exhibition long water: fibre stories (2020-22), Institute of Modern Art, Weaving the Way (2019), The University of Queensland Art Museum and co-curator of The Commute, 2018, the Institute of Modern Art. Freja has contributed writing to Artlink, National Gallery of Australia, IMA, Tarnathi and Cairns Regional Gallery among others. Freja was an inaugural participant of the National Gallery of Australia’s Wesfarmers Indigenous Arts Leadership Program and is a member of the Kluge- Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection Advisory Council. Freja is currently a PhD candidate with The University of Queensland and works collaboratively with her family on Quandamooka weaving practices.
Jane Devery
Jane Devery is Senior Curator, Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney. Previously Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) (2013–21) and Project Curator at Heide Museum of Modern Art (2021), she has worked extensively with leading contemporary artists and curated more than 30 exhibitions including large-scale surveys of contemporary art, thematic exhibitions, artist-led projects, and major solo exhibitions. She has edited and published widely and was a commissioning editor of Art Journal, the NGV’s scholarly research publication. A graduate of the University of Melbourne, Devery holds a Masters of Art Curatorship and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Art History and Cinema Studies.
Beatrice Gralton
Beatrice Gralton is Senior Curator, Brett Whiteley Studio at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Working for over two decades in Australian and international art museums, she has extensive collection management, exhibition production and commissioning experience. In her role as Curator, Visual Art (2012–17) and then Head Curator, Visual Art (2017–20) at Carriageworks, Beatrice was responsible for projects and exhibitions including Nick Cave: Until; Katharina Grosse: The Horse Trotted Another Couple Of Metres, Then It Stopped; El Anatsui: Five Decades; Zhang Huan: Sydney Buddha; Michel Tuffery: Siamani Samoa and 24 Frames Per Second. She has held curatorial roles at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and School of Art and Design in Washington D.C. and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and has published widely on Australian and international art.
Aarna Fitzgerald Hanley
Aarna Fitzgerald Hanley is Curator of Programs at Carriageworks. Working on curatorial projects over the past decade, Aarna has specialised in commissioning site-specific works. Joining Carriageworks in 2018, her recent projects include Thea Anamara Perkins: Stockwoman (2022), Mel O’Callaghan: All is Life (2022), Karla Dickens: Return to Sender (2022), No Show (2021) and Kate Mitchell: All Auras Touch (2020), which she co-curated. Previously, Aarna worked with Barbara Flynn, as an assistant curator, to realise large-scale commissions in Sydney’s public domain. These included works by Tadashi Kawamata, Pipilotti Rist, Lara Schnitger and Justine Varga. Writing regularly on contemporary art, she also has experience with editorial projects, having been an editorial coordinator on the monograph Sydney Ball: The Stain Paintings 1971–80 (2013) and undertaken a publishing internship at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Aarna is a former board member of the digital publication Runway Journal. A graduate of the University of Sydney, she holds degrees in art history, publishing and law.
Emily Rolfe
Emily Rolfe is Curator, Contemporary Visual Arts at Campbelltown Arts Centre. Advocating for collaborative, artist-led curatorial models and projects, Emily has extensive experience delivering new commissions and curating exhibitions with Australian and international artists. Recent projects include: Curator of Karla Dickens’ survey exhibition Embracing Shadows (2023), Co-Curator of Luke Sciberras’ survey exhibition in partnership with Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Luke Sciberras: Side of the Sky (2022), Curatorial Manager of Space YZ and the accompanying large-scale website (2021), Co-Curator of In Conversation: FX Harsono × Ida Lawrence (2019) and Assistant Curator of Lisa Reihana: Cinemania (2018). Emily was Assistant Curator at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney (2014–17). She has managed and edited a number of in-depth publications including Luke Sciberras: Side of the Sky (2022), Lisa Reihana: Cinemania (2018) and Jompet Kuswidananto: After Voices (2016). She holds a Bachelor of Media (Screen and Sound) from the University of New South Wales.