Gallery

Martina Copley | Gallery Coordinator (Gallery Coordinator 2013-, Associate Member 2013-, Artistic Director 2018-) is an artist, curator and writer interested in different modalities of practice and the annotative space. Working in film and sound, drawing and installation, she completed a PhD of Fine Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne in 2019. Martina has significant experience as an independent curator of contemporary art and gallery manager in public, commercial and artist-run contexts. In 2001 she was arts ambassador for the Australian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale and curated WALK, a national touring exhibition with NETS Victoria in 2009. She was the founding curator of MAILBOX an independent public art space in Melbourne CBD in 2006. Martina teaches at RMIT and LaTrobe College of Art + Design.

Claire Grech | Assistant Gallery Coordinator (Assistant Gallery Coordinator 2016-) is a conservation scientist currently undertaking her PhD at the University of Melbourne, and holds a Bachelor of Science (Applied Chemistry) and a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation. Her research is focused on the preservation of modern paintings in hot and humid climates, with a specific interest in the behaviour of oil and acrylic paintings in Southeast Asia. She was the Australian Conservation Science Fellow at Harvard Art Museums (2015-2016), and has previously interned at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and volunteered for the Women’s Art Register, Richmond.

Kiah Pullens | Gallery Technician has recently joined BLINDSIDE to advise and assist exhibiting artists with the installation and deinstallation of their work. 

Board of Directors 

Chloé Hazelwood | Executive (Chair 2020-, Secretary 2019) is an arts manager, writer and curator. She has written exhibition essays for a number of artist-run spaces, such as BLINDSIDE, SEVENTH Gallery, Bus Projects and Firstdraft. Her research interests include feminist art and curatorial practice, First Nations cultural expression and the queering of institutions. Chloé has curated exhibitions at BLINDSIDE, Verge Gallery, Cold Cuts and RMIT University. She has moderated panels at BLINDSIDE, RMIT University and Schoolhouse Studios. In 2019, Chloé completed the Master of Arts Management (with Distinction) at RMIT University and was a member of the inaugural 2019 First Site Committee, where she coordinated a dynamic range of public programs and events for students and the wider community. Chloé also works as the Gallery Administrator at Linden New Art.

Olivia Hutchinson | Executive (Treasurer 2021-, Vice Treasurer 2019-20) is an accomplished arts administrator based in Melbourne. After completing her Masters of Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne, Olivia has been working as Operations Manager at Dancehouse, bringing her enthusiasm for administration and organisation to the arts. She is passionate about staying involved in the creative world and continues to volunteer in the community as well as maintaining an artistic practice. Her curatorial interests lie in exploring the interdisciplinary potential of contemporary art practice, and how the gendered body has been represented in art history and contemporary visual and image culture.

Karl Halliday | Executive (Grants Coordinator 2020-) is a curator, artist and writer based in Narrm (Melbourne) with experience working in the non-profit and public art festival sectors. His research pursuits take interest in expanded and transdisciplinary curatorial practice, with a strong focus on performance, pedagogy and contemporary photography. Karl is currently assistant to the Producer at PHOTO International Festival of Photography, having previously occupied positions at Centre for Contemporary Photography, Gertrude Contemporary, Bus Projects, Melbourne Art Fair, Perth Centre for Photography and Paper Mountain. He has independently curated exhibitions and shown work across Narrm (Melbourne) and Boorloo (Perth), and in 2020 joined Seventh Gallery's Emerging Writers Program. Karl holds a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.

Elly-Louise Tyquin | Executive (Secretary 2021-) is an arts administrator, curator and artist. Her curatorial and artistic practice explore her interest in fibre art and repetitive practice as a form of therapy. Elly has a Bachelor of Design Arts (Visual Art) from LCI Melbourne (formerly Academy of Design Australia) and in 2020, she completed a Masters of Arts Management at RMIT University. Elly has experience in gallery invigilation and administration within artist-run and commercial galleries across Melbourne including BLINDSIDE and West End Art Space. She has been a member on selection panels for public art projects and co-designed artist agreements for local government.

Chantelle Mitchell (Public Programs Coordinator 2021-, Secretary 2020) is a writer and curator. Her practice leverages fragmentary and archival approaches, addressing structure and place in ecological frames. She has written for The Lifted Brow, art+Australia, e-flux, and Plumwood Mountain Journal for Ecopoetry, as well as presenting at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Bus Projects, the Ian Potter Museum of Art and the University of Canberra. Chantelle holds a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne and has worked across the visual arts sector for Anna Pappas Gallery, SEVENTH Gallery, the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery and the Grainger Museum, as well as undertaking internships with Monash University Museum of Art, c3 and more.

Brittany Barnes (Fundraising Coordinator 2020-) is an arts and project manager based in Melbourne. She is currently the Gallery Manager at THIS IS NO FANTASY. Her experience across the arts includes managing exhibitions and programs for various not-for-profit, commercial and public galleries including MERGE Festival and Tate Modern in London. Brittany has a Bachelor of Art (Art History and Theory) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing Management) from the University of Otago, NZ and has studied Management of Fashion and Design Companies at Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Italy. 

Salar Niknafs (Marketing Coordinator 2019-) is a multidisciplinary artist and digital analyst currently based in Melbourne. Working across photography, video and sound, in his art he primarily engages with experimental aesthetic forms. A keen advocate of art-science collaborations, Salar completed a PhD in Materials Science and his research interests are concepts and methods at the intersection of art and science in an attempt to act as a mediator between the two. Salar’s work is presented in the context of conferences, workshops, music venues and exhibitions including FILE Electronic Language International Festival (Rio De Janeiro), Life Framer (Rome), Society for Photographic Education national conference (Orlando), and Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert photography exhibition (Gold Coast).

Siobhan Sloper (Media Coordinator 2019-) Siobhan is an arts administrator and curator based in Narrm-Melbourne. She has a Masters of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Arts/Visual Arts from Monash University. Siobhan has worked with a number of visual art organisations both commercial and not-for-profit including, Bus Projects, Spring 1883 (for Michael Lett, NZ), Sutton Gallery and Melbourne Art Fair. In 2017-18 Siobhan was Contemporary Art Curator at Loop Project Space and Bar. She is currently Gallery Coordinator at Gertrude Contemporary. In 2020 Siobhan will curate an exhibition at Gertrude Glasshouse for the Gertrude Contemporary Emerging Curator’s Program.

Artistic Directors

Josephine Mead (Artistic Director 2020-) is a visual artist and writer based in Naarm (Melbourne). She works through photography, sculpture, installation and writing to explore personal notions of support. Her recent work has positioned female family members as support-structures, considered the body as a site of discursive practice, explored notions of deep listening, and examined the temporal and sonic nature of writing and photography. She has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in Australia and abroad. In 2018 she undertook the Arquetopia Foundation Residency (Puebla, Mexico), the Kings Emerging Writer’s Program, the Macfarlane Fund Residency (Kyneton, Victoria) and was published by Art+Australia and un Projects. In 2019 she undertook the Tasarim Bakkali TAB Residency (Istanbul, Turkey) and the Córtex Frontal Residency (Arraiolos, Portugal). In 2019 she commenced the ZK/U Residency at Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (Moabit, Berlin).

James Carey (Curator 2018-) has inherent curiosities to notions of process, time and duration. His practice is one of mark making, marking time, making time, and time making; foregrounding duration and marking an occurrence. Carey’s technique is one of working responsively, allowing particular temporal conditions to surface within sites and situations. The residue of specific processes are then assembled as collections of materialised and spatialised time. James is a Melbourne based artist and a Lecturer in Interior Design, School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University, where he also completed a PhD by Project in 2016.

Martina Copley (Curator 2013-, Artistic Director 2019-) See above.

Bridie Lunney (Curator 2017-, Advisor 2017-) Combining practices of sculpture and durational performance, Bridie Lunney acknowledges the body as a conduit between our emotional and psychological selves and the physical world. Her work suggests a reconfiguration of hierarchical relationships between architectural space, objects and the body. Upcoming projects include From Will to Form, Tarrawarra Biennale 2018. Recent projects include Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture, Federation Square, 2017, for which she was the recipient of the Professional Development Award. Lunney is a lecturer in Contemporary Practice at Monash Art Design and Architecture and in Sculpture and Spatial Practice at Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University and is currently a PhD candidate at Monash University.

Sanja Pahoki (Curator 2018-) Sanja Pahoki uses photography, video, neon and text to explore observations from everyday life. Existential issues such as the nature of self, identity and the role of anxiety are recurring themes in her work. As the autobiographical is the initial inspiration for much of Sanja's work, humour is often employed as a strategy to direct attention away from the personal to shared concerns. In 2018, Sanja was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from Monash University. Pahoki's artwork has been exhibited both nationally (ACCA @ Mirka at Tolarno Hotel, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney) and internationally (Brussels, Japan, Shanghai, Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Rotterdam). Pahoki is currently the Head of Photography at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. She is represented by Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne.

Jake Treacy (2018-) is a curator, writer and poet whose practice employs numinous acts through exhibition-making, performativity, and the spoken and written word. He is a University of Melbourne graduate with a Master of Art Curatorship (2017) and Postgraduate Art History (2013) who has previously co-directed an artist-run initiative, sat on grant advisory panels, and written published copy on numerous contemporary arts practices. His recent thesis examines ways of constructing liminal experiences in order to incur healing, promoting inclusivity and community, and exercising the therapy of art.

Priya Namana (2021- ) Priya Namana is an Indian contemporary artist living and working on the unceded lands of the people of the Kulin Nations in Naarm. Her practice is enquiry-based and asks emergent questions in the present to probe into possible future ecologies.

Associate Members

Sebastian Kainey (Graphic Designer 2020-) is an emerging arts administrator and writer based in Narrm (Melbourne). He is currently completing a Master of Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne, and in 2015, completed a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) degree at RMIT. With a passion for contemporary art and supporting emerging artists, and as a committed arts worker, Sebastian has worked with numerous art spaces, including Linden New Art, BLINDSIDE Gallery, Gertrude Contemporary and La Trobe Art Institute.

Photo Documentation

Previous intern, Nick James Archer works with BLINDSIDE to document all on-site exhibitions and curated projects.

Gallery Interns

BLINDSIDE welcomes Laura Roberton and Georgia Polichroniadis as our gallery interns, and Karima Sulaiman and Ish Koodah as our Public Programs interns.

BLINDSIDE thanks previous gallery interns Julia Flaster, Chloe Gleeson, Elly-Louise Tyquin, Chloe Herbert-Smith, Jenna Rain Warwick, Siena Di Domenico, Lou Fourie, Monica Do, Rachael Paintin, Yuting Liu, Tess Diaz, Gracie Vincenzi, Henry Law, Alex Walker, Callum Jackson, Timmi Tsapaliaris, Brigid Hansen, Amy Stead.
Thanks to previous photography interns; Roberta Govoni, Talia Carroll, Nina Prendergast, Rubie Bridie, Lou Fourie, Ellie Bracci, Guy Grabowski and Nick James Archer.

Gallery Volunteers 

BLINDSIDE thanks current volunteers Anna Grace Smith, Alex Langsam, David Paicu, Dom Viggiani, Matt Siddal, Gemma Gale, Gemma Keeffe, Joyce Schmiedel, Kat Campbell, Sarah Dart, Georgia Polichroniadis, Jacquelin Tsui, Nicole Soulsby, Erica Wrigley, Sarah Lammardo, Florencia Sanchez, Shao Hui Kwok, Laura Roberton, Isabella Thornton, Alisha Abate, Evangeline Clark, Tess Diaz, Monica Do, Lou Fourie, Henry Law, Matt Pelaggi and Jenna Rain Warwick for their assistance with gallery invigilation, archive management, projects, events & education programs.

Past Board Members and Associates 

BLINDSIDE acknowledges its past members who have helped build the art space to what it is today.

Lucie McIntosh (Chair 2017-19, Artistic Director 2017-2021, Curator 2015-2021, Vice Chair 2016-17, Grants Coordinator 2015-17, Member 2014-2021), Josephine Briginshaw (Executive Member 2019-2020), Jasmin McNeill (Member 2018-2020), Nikos Pantazopoulos (Advisor 2019-2020), Hana Vasak (Member 2016-2020), Jonathan Homsey (Executive Member 2018-2019), Jessica Curry (Executive Member 2017-2019), Rachael Paintin (Member 2017-2019), Elizabeth McInnes (Member 2019), Eliza Tiernan (Member 2017-2019), Tyson Campbell (Member 2019), Ian Macwhirter (Member 2014, Executive Member 2015-2019), Verity Hayward (Member 2014-17, Chair 2015-2017, Advisor 2017-2018), Xanthe Dobbie (Member 2013-2015, Advisor 2016-2018), Carly Richardson (Member 2017-2019), Lili Belle Birchall (Executive Member 2016-2018), David Thomas (Advisor 2014-2017), Leslie Eastman (Advisor 2014-2017), Arvind Vasan (Member 2015-2017), Philippa Brumby (Member 2016-2017), Brigid Hansen (Associate Member 2017), Tiarney Miekus (Associate Member 2017), Kali Michailidis (Member 2014-2017); Andrew Tetzlaff (Member 2008-2015, Chair 2010-15, Advisor 2015-2017); Claire Anna Watson (Member 2010-15, Chair 2012-2015, Advisor 2016-2017) Lisa Mansfield (Member 2015-2017); Charity Bramwell (Member 2015-2016); Bianca Tainsh (Member 2015-2016); Daen Kelly (Member 2015-2016); Claire Mooney (Associate Member 2015-2016); Caitlin Patane (Member 2016); Kate Ellis (Member 2014-2015); Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison (Advisors 2014-2015); Natalie Kazakis (Advisor 2010-2016, Member 2007-2009); Raymonda Rajkowski (Executive Member 2012-2014); Robert Heather (Member 2006-2009, Advisor 2010-2015); Paul Kooperman (Member 2015); Shae Nagorcka (Member 2010-2014); Felicity Strong (Member 2012-2014); Apryl Morden (Member 2013-2014); Daine Singer (Member 2006-2009, Advisor 2010-2013); Blaine Cooper (Member 2011-2013); Elise Murphy (Member 2010-2013); Jessica O’Brien (Member 2013); Adele Macer (Member 2010-2012); Natalya Maller (Member 2008-2012, Secretary 2010-2011); Julian White (Member 2007-2011); Julietta Park (Advisor 2010-2011, Member 2009); Drew Pettifer (Advisor 2010-2011, Member 2008-2009); Jared Davis (Member 2009-2010); Hanna Tai (Member 2010); Melanie Upton (Member 2009); Holly Arden (Member 2008-2009); Natalie Kazakis (Member 2007-2009, Advisor 2007-present); Linda Good (Member 2006-2008); Marion Piper (Member 2006-2008); Joanna Collyvas (Member 2007); Lenni Morkel-Kingsbury (Member 2007); Jessie Borrelle (Member 2005-2007); Olivia Poloni (Member 2006-2007); Chris Howlett (Member 2006); Rosie Mahoney (Member 2004-2006); Asim Memishi (Member 2004-2005); Simon Koger (Founder 2004, Member 2004-2007); Renai Grace (Founder 2004, Member 2004-2006); Christine Morrow (Founder 2004, Member 2004-2006); Pip Haydon (Founder 2004, Member 2004-2006).