Lead artist Craig Walsh and his many faces
Visual Artist Craig Walsh has been commissioned to work with the Birregurra community as lead artist of enLIGHTen me: I have a Hall in my Heart
Australian visual artist Craig Walsh will be working within the community to create a work inspired by stories and memories of Birregurra Mechanics Institute. Walsh is renowned internationally for his hybrid and site-specific projects and the exploration of alternative contexts for contemporary art, often using projection in response to existing environments and landscapes.
(Intension, 2011. Photo from the artist)
(Incubator, White Night 2015. Photo from the artist)
CRAIG WALSH / BIOGRAPHY
Craig Walsh was born in Orange, NSW in 1966, and currently lives and works in Tweed Heads, NSW, Australia. He is primarily interested in site-responsive projects and the exploration of alternative contexts for contemporary art. He utilizes projection, photography, installation and sculpture in response to existing environments and landscapes. Throughout his 25 year career Craig has developed and implemented numerous curatorial projects; gallery exhibitions, public artworks and hybrid collaborations nationally and internationally, often through community engagement processes.
Craig’s work has been shown in a number of national and international exhibitions and institutions, including the Setouchi Triennale, Japan; the Gwangju Biennale, South korea; Jakarta Biennale XIII, Indonesia; Yokohama International Triennale of Contemporary Art, Japan; 01SJ Biennal San Jose, California; Biennale of Australian Art, Adelaide; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Art gallery of NSW , Sydney; National gallery of Australia, Canberra: National portrait gallery, Canberra; Queensland Art gallery, Brisbane; Institute of Modern art, Brisbane, Artspace, Sydney, ACMI, Melbourne and The Experimental Art foundation, Adelaide
Walsh has presented major works for festival environments including Nuit Blanche (Paris and Toronto), Womad festival (Australia, Singapore, England) Fuji Rock, Japan, Tollwood festival, Germany, Sydney festival; White Night, Melbourne, Splendour in the grass, Byron bay; Woodford Folk festival, Woodford etc. He has also been the creative producer for the Splendour in the Grass Arts Program over the last 12 years.
Craig’s recent projects focus on developing work in response to regional locations and the people who occupy these places. The Digital Odyssey project formed a collaboration between Craig Walsh and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Australia), along with State and regional organizations and community groups. Craig Walsh: Digital Odyssey commenced in 2010 as a national 18 month, multi-venue tour and artist residency in rural and remote locations throughout Australia.
Another recent major project included a residency and collaboration with the Murujuga Aboriginal corporation in the Pilbara, Western Australia and a resulting Solo exhibition (Embedded) in 2013 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. he has also recently completed a major regional project, FIVE, working with communities across regional WA, addressing mental health. With the organization DADAA.
A new 200 page full colour monograph on his practice was published in 2014 by the MCA and IMA and he was a finalist in the 2015 International Award for Public Art and exhibited documentation of Digital Odyssey in the Auckland Art Gallery as part of the finalist exhibition. He currently has a range of temporal and permanent public art commissions in production.
More info at www.craigwalsh.net
