Celebrating ideas and forms in Australian contemporary art, The National 2019: New Australia Art presents its second biannual instalment featuring work from a number of acclaimed UNSW Art & Design alumni artists.

Exhibited across three iconic institutions, Art Gallery of NSW, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), The National is the only large-scale recurring exhibition in Sydney focusing solely on contemporary Australian art.

Meet our alumni curator and artists.

Dr Anna Davis (Curator)

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Image credit: The National

 

Dr Anna Davis (PhD Media Arts 2010, BFA 1997) joined the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in 2009 as Curator. Her strong interest in experimental and interdisciplinary contemporary practices has led her to work in a variety of curatorial roles in the arts sector since 1999. Dr Davis regularly comments on contemporary art and curational practice, and has previously presented exhibitions in Australia and overseas. Prior to the MCA, she was an artist and independent curator, working with a number of Australian and international artists on a range of exhibitions, projects and special events.


Tara Marynowsky

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Image credit: The National

 

Tara Marynowsky (BFA 2003) is a painter and mixed medium artist who incorporates drawing, painting, film and found images as part of her artistic practice. She has a curatorial background in film and archives, and uses her experience in these fields to investigate recorded images and the historical representation of women. Ms Marynowsky has been a recipient of a number of grants, awards and residencies, and has exhibited widely across Australia as well as overseas.


Nova Milne (Richard nova Milne, Stephanie nova Milne)

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Image credit: The National

 

nova Milne is a two-person artist – Richard nova Milne (MFA 2012, BFA 2005) and Stephanie nova Milne (MFA 2012, BFA 2004). Their practice incorporates intimacy as their primary communal structure, and is portrayed through video installations, performance, drawings, restorative actions, sculptural and drawing works.


Dr Izabela Pluta

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Image credit: The National

 

Dr Izabela Pluta (MFA 2009) is an artist and UNSW academic with an interest in expanded photographic practice who uses photography as a way of interpreting and reconceptualising the function that images have in the present. Her practice investigates the process of finding, fragmenting, translating and reconfiguring elements that are both photographed and found. Dr Pluta’s work has been exhibited widely in Australia at Artspace, the Australian Centre for Photography, Galerie Pompom and Queensland Centre for Photography among many others.


Tommaso ‘Tom’ Polo

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Image credit: The National

 

Tom Polo (MFA 2012, BFA 2007) uses painting and painted environments to explore how conversation, doubt and gesture are embodied in abstracted acts of portraiture. Through text and figurative elements, his work draws on critical observations, personal experiences and imagined personas. Mr Polo’s practice continuously investigates the emotional and performative relationships between people within social and psychological space. He has exhibited solo and group exhibitions in Australia and internationally, and has held artist residencies in Paris, London and Sydney.


Dr Eugenia Raskopoulos

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Image credit: The National

 

Dr Eugenia Raskopoulos (PhD Media Arts 2012, MFA 1993) concentrates on themes of identity, human body, interaction, language, communication, gender, sexuality and the ambiguity of language. Incorporating the elements of photography, video, performance, transcription, neon art and installation, her work has been acclaimed nationally and internationally over the past 30 years.


Dr Kylie Banyard

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Image credit: The National

 

Dr Kylie Banyard (PhD Fine Arts 2014, MFA 2007) is a multidisciplinary artist who is grounded in painting and incorporates photography, video, sculpture and immersive architectural spaces into her artistic practice. Dr Banyard’s work investigates alternate models for living and learning, and combines speculative images and historical references with fantasy and drawing on ideas from the past and present.