JULIE GOUGH
I always wanted to hold and feel things, to understand them by their substance. As long as I can remember I brought together experiences, texts and objects, both made and found, to tell stories. Although I didn't study art in high school the value of anything as both trace residue and mode to narrate stayed with me.
Even through degrees in literature and prehistory (archaeology) my preference to work with space/place and dimensional output beyond the written eventually directed me to study art and recognise this was my field.
Art for me is a language by which complex and difficult experiences, histories, ideas can be expressed and received, that otherwise might well not be transmittable and accessible.My favourite art experience, with "favourite" suggesting a repeatable experience, and "art" being a very constrained western word, is watching cult and classic films in small independent cinemas around the world.
I have previously exhibited at Sawtooth in a show called ‘Black Matter: Refugia, Aethetics of displacement from the geographic’ back in 2018. The exhibition was a response and outcome from artist residencies in Chile by Francisca Moenne, Robert O'Connor and myself, over two and a half months in 2016, alongside the work of Chilean artists Eduardo Cruces, Marcarena Perich and Cristian Rodriguez, who came to Tasmania for their residency in 2018.
Sawtooth ARI is a critical arts space and program for Lutruwita/Tasmania and its work and outreach with the arts community in and beyond Launceston is rich and dynamic.
Biography
Julie Gough is an artist, writer and a curator of First Peoples Art and Culture at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Gough’s art and research practice often involves uncovering and re-presenting conflicting and subsumed histories.
Her (Briggs-Johnson-Gower) family have lived in the Latrobe region of Lutruwita/Tasmania since the 1840s, with Tebrikunna in the far north east their Traditional Country.
Gough holds a PhD from the University of Tasmania (UTAS)(Visual Arts, 2001), a Masters degree (Visual Arts) University of London, Goldsmiths College (1998), and Bachelor and Honours degrees in Visual Arts (Curtin University, 1993), UTAS (1995), and in Prehistory/English literature (University of West Australia, 1987).
Publications include Tense Past (Tebrikunna Press, 2021, 2023), Fugitive History (UWA Press) and Shale (A Published Event), both 2018.
Since 1993 Gough has exhibited in more than 200 exhibitions including: Shadow Spirit, RISING festival, Naarm, 2023; Rivus: Biennale of Sydney, 2022; Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia, 2021; Eucalyptusdom, Powerhouse Museum, NSW, 2021; TENSE PAST, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 2019; Divided Worlds, Adelaide Biennial, 2018; Defying Empire, National Gallery of Australia (NGA), 2017; THE NATIONAL, Museum of Contemporary Art, NSW, 2017; With Secrecy and Despatch, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2016; UNDISCLOSED, NGA, 2012; Clemenger Award, National Gallery of Victoria, 2010; Biennale of Sydney, 2006; Liverpool Biennial, UK, 2001; Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1995. Her work is held in most state and national collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of West Australia, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and National Museum of Australia.