VCA Art Grad Show 2021 - Audiences Return

VCA Art Graduate Show 2021. Image Credit: Drew Echberg
VCA Art Graduate Show 2021. Image Credit: Drew Echberg

The incredible creativity of the graduating cohort of VCA Art students is once again on show.

Spread across the Southbank campus are new works by over 150 graduating students from Photography, Sculpture, Painting, Drawing and Printmaking, Honours, Master of Contemporary Art and Master of Fine Art.

The 2021 Art Graduate show represents a cultural re-emergence celebrating the creative resilience of Australia’s most exciting new artists.

Head of Art at the VCA, Dr Simone Slee, said “This show really speaks to the crucial role of art in our society – its ability to excite, to provoke and to provide meaning. The works on display are contemporaneous – they tell stories, reflect experiences and wrestle with our understanding of what it is to be human.”

Lisa Waup, Installation View, Redirected Exhibition. VCA Art Graduate Exhibition, 2021

Graduating student, Lisa Waup, is excited to be showcasing her graduate work to live audiences.

“The work I have created for the Art Graduate Exhibition is focused on experimental printmaking techniques, found objects, natural materials, and sculpture,” said Lisa.

Lisa, who is a mixed-cultural First Peoples woman and multidisciplinary artist, has created a body of work that explores the power and peril of the directional sign. She has reimagined and reinvented the directional sign so that it points back to where her ancestors can be found.

Lisa Waup, OUR WAY (can do)

“These works reference my personal experience and that of many others who are part of a number of generations of lost, stolen, hidden and displaced First Peoples in Australia,” said Lisa.

The Grad Show has a developed reputation for showcasing talent, but what makes the art this year even more compelling, is that much of it was produced during long period of isolation and lockdown. That the show is even possible, is testament to the creative resilience, extraordinary dedication and ability of the students and staff of the VCA.

“The biggest surprise for me in the creation of this body of work was being able to bring it all together. What this graduating cohort has been able to achieve during these extremely challenging times has been nothing short of inspirational,” said Lisa.

Lisa Waup, LOST, installation view. Documentation by ALEC

The show also represents an opportunity to purchase a unique piece of contemporary art, with works on sale to the public.

The online Finissage event will include a short film of our graduates' work, the announcement of the 2021 art award winners, and the launch of the VCA Art 2021 Graduate Online Catalogue, profiling all our graduating students.

“Art is good for the soul and, we are so excited to welcome you back to our beautiful campus to view the highly anticipated 2021 Art Grad Show this December”, said Slee.