Raquel Ormella (b. Sydney 1969) has a diverse practice that includes video, installation, drawings, and zines. Ormella is an artist working at the intersections of art and activism, investigating the means by which critical reflexivity in contemporary art encourages processes of self-examination regarding political consciousness and social action.
Raquel Ormella
Ormella's practice is grounded in exploring the nature of the relationship between humans and the natural environment, with a particular focus on urban expansion and forest activism. In highlighting the connectedness between the two, Ormella attempts to show that our depictions of the natural world are not representations of true 'wilderness' or a pure state, but rather are informed by human contact and reflective of human values. Ormella has built a practice covering a diverse range of activities such as video, paintings, installations, drawings, and zines. She is interested in exploring the relation of the audience to the artwork by using multiples. For example, she produced a work for the 2008 Sydney Biennale using electronic whiteboards that print the drawings made by the artist, so that the audience may take them home.
A major solo exhibition of Ormella's practice, I hope you get this: Raquel Ormella, was presented at Shepparton Art Museum in 2018 in partnership with NETS Victoria, and is currently touring. Her other solo exhibitions include Golden Soil, Milani Gallery, 2016; Birds, School of Art Gallery, ANU, Canberra, 2013; New Constellation, Milani Gallery, 2013; Feeders, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, ACT, 2012, Walking through clear fells, CAST, Tasmania, 2011, She went that way, Artspace, Sydney, 2009; Living in other people's houses, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, 2001 and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, 2002, as well as several solo exhibitions at Milani Gallery, Brisbane.
Ormella has participated in various group exhibitions including 2017 The National: New Australian Art, Sydney, Limitless Horizon: Vertical Perspective, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, MCA Collection: Word, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; 2016 Dissenting Voices, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; 2015 Artist Making Movement, Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, See you at the barricades, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, More love hours: contemporary artists and craft, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; Basil Sellers Prize, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, Protest Songs, Artful Actions, Lismore Regional Gallery, Lismore, Conflict: Contemporary responses to war, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane; 2013 California-Pacific Triennial, Los Angeles, Social networking, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2012, the 1st Aichi Triennial, Art and Cities, Nagoya, Japan, 2010, Tokyo Stories, Tokyo Wondersite Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, 2010, In the Balance: Art for a changing world, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney, 2010; Revolutions: forms that turn, Biennale of Sydney, 2008; Trans versa, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile, 2006; International geographic, Artists Space, New York, USA, 2005; Cycle tracks will abound in utopia, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2004; Poetic justice, Istanbul Biennial, Turkey, 2003; Bittersweet, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, 2002; and the São Paulo Biennial, Brazil, 2002.
Ormella was one of the artists selected for the Visions of Australia Program by the Department of Communications and Arts in 2018. She was also selected for the One Year Studio Artists program at Artspace in Sydney in 2016. In 2012 Ormella was awarded the prestigious Fisher's Ghost Art Award, from the Campbelltown Art Centre, NSW, Australia; a New Work Grant from The Australia Council for the Arts and Arts ACT in 2009; Warrnambool Art Gallery's New Social Commentaries Prize, in 2006; Western Sydney Artist Fellowship from the NSW Ministry for the Arts, 2000; and the Australia Council Studio Residency in Barcelona, Spain in 1999. In 2013 Ormella completed a PhD in Visual Arts at the Australia National University, Canberra where she is lecturer in the Painting Workshop. Her work is held by public and private collections in Australia. She is represented by Milani Gallery, Brisbane.
Education
2013
- PhD Visual Arts, Australian National University
2003-05
- Masters of Fine Arts, University of Western Sydney, Nepean
1997
- Non award studies, Akademie der Bilden Kunst, Vienna, Austria
1992-96
- Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Hons.), University of Western Sydney, Nepean
Awards/Grants/Prizes
2018
- Visions of Australia program, Department of Communications and Art
2016
- One Year Studio Artist, Artspace, Sydney
2012
- Fisher's Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Art Centre, NSW
2009
- New Work Grant, Australia Council
2007
- PHD scholarship, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University
- New Work Grant, Arts ACT
- New Work Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
2006
- New Social Commentaries, Warnambol Regional Art Gallery
- Capital Arts Patrons Organisation, Singapore Airways travelling grant.
2003
- Australian Post graduate research scholarship, and UWS Research Bonus
2000
- Western Sydney artist Fund, NSW Ministry for the Arts
1999
- Australia Council Studio Residency, Barcelona, Spain
1996
- Dyson Bequest travelling Scholarship, Art Gallery of NSW for study
1992
- William Fletcher Trust Prize
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022
- Renewal / Blockade in the studio, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2021
- Now is the Time, Children's Art Centre, GOMA, Brisbane
2019
- I hope you get this: Raquel Ormella; Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, TAS; Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra; Noosa Regional Gallery, Noosa, QLD; Penrith Regional Gallery and the Lewers Bequest, Penrith, NSW
2018
- I hope you get this: Raquel Ormella; Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, VIC; Horsham Regional Gallery, Horsham, VIC
2016
- Artists as Cartoonists, or Extended Black & White, Cross Art Projects, Sydney
- Golden Soil, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2013
- New Constellation, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2010
- Walking Through Clearfells, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2009
- She went that way, Artspace Sydney, Sydney.
2007
- It’s a big experiment basically, International Art Space Kellerberrin Australia (IASKA), Kellerberrin, WA.
2005
- Just left of the right lift, In Art lifts, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2004
- The unattainable simple, Mori Gallery, Sydney
2003
- Pick me, Mori Gallery, Sydney
2002
- Living in other peoples houses, Gertrude contemporary art spaces, Melbourne
2001
- Living in other peoples houses, The Lounge, Casula Powerhouse Regional Gallery, Liverpool, Australia
2000
- while sleeping, Mori Gallery, Sydney
- Rental beige (incomplete), Blaugrau, Sydney
1998
- What do you want from me? (groschen, pfennige, cents), Mori Gallery, Sydney
- What do you want from me?(6 month lease at $180 a week, plus gallery rent $250 a week), 151 Regent Street Gallery, Redfern
- Anxiety books, 151 Regent Street Gallery, Redfern
- A is for Archive (sic), in collaboration with Lucas Ihlien, The Verge Perth
Selected Group Shows
2023
- Soft Power, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, Goulburn NSW
2021
- Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now, Part 1, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- TarraWarra Biennial 2021: Slow moving waters, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, VIC
- MCA Collection: Perspectives on Place, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Just Not Australian, Bathurst Regional Gallery, NSW (touring)
2019
- National Anthem, Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne
- Unfolding: Fabric of Our Life, Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textle, Hong Kong
- Just Not Australian, Artspace, Sydney
- Zephyr, Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong, Victoria
- Exploded Textiles, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth
2018
- Hunter Red: Seeing Red, The Lockup, Newcastle
- State of the Union, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
2017
- MCA Collection: Word, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Limitless Horizon: Vertical Perspective, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
- 1917: The Greatest Strike, Carriageworks, Sydney
- Material Politics, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
- The Dust Never Settles, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
- The National, Art Gallery of New South Wales/Carriageworks/Museum of Contemporary Art
2016
- Dissenting Voices, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
- Artists as Cartoonists, or Extended Black and White, Cross Art Projects, Potts Point, NSW
2015
- Artist Making Movement: 2015 Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung
- More love hours: Contemporary artists and craft, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
- See you at the barricades, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- 21, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney
2014
- Basil Sellers Prize, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
2013
- California-Pacific Triennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
2012
- Pavilions Project - Sydney, The 9th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai.
- Social Networking, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane.
2010
- Universes in Universe, Aichi Triennale, Nagoya
- Change, MUMA, Monash University Museum of Art, Clayton, Victoria.
- In the Balance: Art for a Changing World, Museum of Contempoarary Art, MCA, Sydney.
- Zen to Kawall: The Japanese Effect, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane.
- Tokyo Story, TWS, Tokyo Wonder Site, Shibuya Tokyo.
2009
- Making it New: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, MCA, Sydney.
- Problem Solving: Express Yourself, Uplands Gallery, Melbourne.
2008
- Revolution-Forms that turn, the 16th Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
- Contemporary Australia: Optimism, GOMA, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, QLD
- The Ecologies Project, MUMA, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
- Better Places, PICA, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth
- Girls, Girls. Girls! The Carlton Hotel, Melbourne, VIC,
- Australian, Casula Powerhouse, curated by Nick Toutas, Casula, NSW
2007
- Territorial, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, ACT, 24Hr Art Darwin, NT
2006
- If you leave me can I come too, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
- Transversa, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile
- Multiplicity, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Yours, mine, ours, 50 years of the ABC, Penrith Regional Gallery, Penrith
2005
- International Geographic, Artists Space, New York, USA
- C’Town Bling, curated Anne Loxely, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown
- Art is a social space, Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown
- Who’s Afraid of the Avant Garde? Performance Space, Sydney
- disobedience, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, COFA, Sydney
2004
- Cycle paths will abound in utopia, ACCA, Melbourne
- City views, Museum of Brisbane, curated by Chris Handran, Brisbane
2003
- Poetic Justice, The 8th Biennale of Istanbul, Turkey
- The difference is the gap, ARTSPACE, Auckland, New Zealand/ Aotearoa
- Feedback, Art and social consciousness and resistance, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
- Anita and Beyond, Lewers Bequest Penrith Regional Gallery
- Home sweet home, National Art Gallery, Canberra, Australia and national tour
- Boofheads and Scrubbers Revenge, Lewers Bequest Penrith Regional Gallery
2002
- Cidades, 25th Sao Paulo Biennale, Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Bittersweet, curated by Wayne Tunnicliffe, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
- Urban Anxiety, curated by Kate McMillan, Artrage 2002 Festival, Midlands, Western Australia and 1aspace, Hong Kong
2001
- Temporary Fixtures, curated by Jacqueline Phillips, Artspace, Sydney
- Sunburn, curated by Anita Fricek, K3, Hamburg, Germany
2000
- Drawing Show, Mori Gallery, Sydney
- Sydney!Vienna!, curated by Anita Fricek, Akademie der Bilden Kunst, Vienna, Austria
1999
- Talkback, Living Here Now, Art + Politics, Australian Perspecta 1999, curated by Wayne Tunnicliffe and Hetti Perkins, Art Gallery of NSW
1998
- Injection, The Performance Space, Sydney
- Homemade, (with Lucas Ihlien) SOUTH, Sydney
1997
- Parking, Casula Powerhouse Regional Gallery, Liverpool
Collections
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
- Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
- The University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
- Casula Powerhouse Regional Gallery, Liverpool, NSW, Australia
- Warnambool Regional Art Gallery, Australia
- Sir James and Lady Cruthers Collection, Perth, Australia
- The Buxton Collection, Melbourne, Australia
- Private collections Australia and overseas
Selected Bibliography
- Kyla McFarlane, Rebecca Coates, Reuben Keehan, I hope you get this: Raquel Ormella, NETS
- Vicotria, Melbourne, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, VIC, 2018.
- Anneke Jaspers, Wayne Tunnicliffe, Genevieve O’Callaghan, eds., The National 2017: New Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2017.
- Wes Hill, review of Material Politics, Artlink, vol. 37, no. 2, Adelaide, 2017.
Vanessa Berry, Speculative space: Artists working with data, Artlink, vol. 37, no. 1, Adelaide, 2017. - Tsai Chao-Yi, ed., Artist Making Movement: 2015 Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, 2015.
- Dan Cameron, 2013 California-Pacific Triennial, New York, Penguin Random House, 2013.
- Hayley McFarlene, Global Warming Painting, Black & White Drawings: Glenn Morgan; New Constellation: Raquel Ormella; The Surface of Language: Madeleine Kelly, Artlink, vol 33, no. 4, Adelaide, 2013.
- Anna Waldmann, 9th Shanghai Biennale 2012: Reactivation, Art and Australia, vol. 50, no. 4, Melbourne, 2013.
- Li Xiangyang, Xu Jiang, Reactivation: 9th Shanghai Biennale, The Power Station, Shanghai, 2012.
- Reuben Keehan, ed., Raquel Ormella: she went that way. Artspace, Woolloomooloo, 2010.
- Bec Dean, Raquel Ormella and Andrew Bowers: life in the balance, Art and Australia, vol. 48, no.1, Melbourne, 2010.
- Bec Dean, Raquel Ormella: landscape and complexity, Artlink, vol 28 no 3. Adelaide, 2008
Geraldine Barlow and Dr Kyla McFarlane, catalogue essay The Ecologies Project, MUMA, Melbourne, 2008 - Daniel Palmer, review of the 16th Biennale of Sydney Art World, Issue 5, October/ November, Sydney, 2008
- Max Delany, review of the 16th Biennale of Sydney, Freize, summer, London, UK, 2008
- Anthony Gardener, review of the 16th Biennale of Sydney Column #2, Artspace, Sydney, 2008
- Stephanie Radok, review of the 16th Biennale of Sydney, Artlink, vol 28 no 3. Adelaide, 2008
- Bec Dean, review of the 16th Biennale of Sydney Column #2, Artspace, Sydney, 2008
- Glenn Barkley, artist interview, Biennale of Sydney, Artist Profile, issue #4, 2008
- Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev ed. Revolution-Forms that turn, the 16th Biennale of Sydney, Thames and Hudson, 2008
- David Broker, catalogue essay Territorial, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, ACT, 2007
- Blair Frencrah catalogue essay Who’s Afraid of the Avant Garde?, Performance Space, Sydney, 2006
- Charlotte Day, ed. A Short ride in a Fast Machine: History of Gerturde Street Artists Spaces, Gerturde Street Artists Spaces, Melbourne, 2005
- Zanny Begg catalogue essay disobedience, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, COFA, Sydney, 2005
- Julianna Engberg catalogue essay Cycle paths will abound in utopia, ACCA, Melbourne, 2004
- Annette Larkin, artists of the 21st millennium, The Australian Art Market Report, issue 11, Autumn, 2004
- Rachel Kent, Istanbul Biennial, Poetic Justice, Art and Australia, vol 41, Autumn, no.3, 2004
- Wayne Tunicliffe, catalogue essay Poetic Justice, Istanbul Biennial, Turkey, 2003
- Charlotte Day, catalogue essay Feedback, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2003
- Lisa Havilah, catalogue essay Anita and Beyond, Lewers Bequest Penrith Regional Gallery
Trevor Smith, Sydney, Cidades, Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil, 2002 - Wayne Tunicliffe, catalogue essay Bittersweet, Art Gallery of NSW, 2002
- Jacqueline Phillips, Topographic democracy? catalogue essay, Temporary Spaces, Artspace, Sydney 2001
- Raquel Ormella, artist pages, Uniglory, blaugrau, Sydney
- Lena Lapschina, State Artist, State of the Arts #3, Culturepress, Austria, 2000
- Stephen O’Connell, review of Perspecta, Freize, winter, London, UK, 2000
- Bec Dean, Perth, Australia, is a small city... MU magazine #05, surfacepseudart pty Ltd, Perth, 1999
- Charles Green, Art and Politics: Living Here Now, review of Perspecta, Art and Australia, vol.37 no.3 2000
