Other Body Knowledge: Contending with the mythic norm

See all projects by:

• Dion Beasley ›
• Jane Trengove ›
• Lara Chamas ›
• Ruark Lewis ›
• Sam Petersen ›
• Sophie Cassar ›

• Dion Beasley is an Alywarr man who lived for many years in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. His father's country is Owairtilla, also known as Canteen Creek, and his mother's country is Alpurrurulam, also known as Lake Nash. As a Deaf artist with muscular dystrophy, Dion uses drawing to communicate with the world around him. He draws his family, the country where he grew up and all the dogs at Mulga Camp. Dion’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney and the National Gallery of Australia and the recent Sydney Biennale. Dion Beasley now lives in Torquay, Queensland, where he draws every day. Dion also spends time making 3D models of small community areas and hundreds of cut-out paper dogs, recently these have taken on an abstract form. 
• Jane Trengove is a disabled artist with a career spanning many years. Jane’s art practice encompasses a range of art media and she has extensive skills in the coordination/curation of visual arts project development, production and arts administration. Jane’s work often engages the relevance of contemporary art in wider social/political debates, such as gender, race and disability.   She has exhibited widely, including locally, interstate and overseas and is currently represented by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne.  To support her visual art career Jane has been employed across a range of professional platforms, primarily in the arts and disability sector and has worked closely with government, arts industry and community organizations to increase the participation of Deaf and disabled people in the cultural life of Victoria. Recent projects include: Other Body Knowledge, 2022, Public Program and Exhibition, in collaboration with Katie Ryan and KINGS Artist-Run Initiative, When You Think of Feminism What Do You Think? 2022, George Paton Gallery, S/He, 2022, 24/7 Covid-safe installation at ACU Melbourne Gallery, Midsumma, Melbourne, XXX Celebrating 30 Years of Sutton Gallery, 2022, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Ceci n’est pas, 2019, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Fem-A-Finity, 2019, NETS touring show, curated by Dr Catherine Bell.
• Ruark Lewis is an interdisciplinary artist. Working in painting, drawing and installation, as well as literature and performance. He has exhibited, published and performed in Australia and internationally since the late 1980s. Commissions for Public Art at the Sydney Olympic Games site and the Randwick City Sesquicentenary 2009. Performances at the Berlin International Literary Festival, installations for Nuit Blanche Festival, Toronto and Biennale of Sydney. Publications include The Depth of Translation (with Paul Carter), False Narratives, Just for Nothing (with Nathalie Sarraute) and most recently a catalogue raisonne THOUGHTLINES, which was awarded the 2018 AAANZ best book award.
• Sam Petersen is a Naarm-based visual artist, writer and performer who works primarily in site-specific installation and sculpture. Petersen’s artwork often references the limitations Petersen confronts when trying to access society as a person with disability. Petersen’s art practice can be thought of as a mode of activism, which is politically motivated and takes the body and its relationship to the built environment, and therefore people's minds, as conceptual starting points. Recent projects include; True Colours, 2021, Bus Projects, Melbourne, My Pee is Political, 2020, Darren Knight Gallery, I’m Still Feeling It: Overlapping Magisteria, The 2020 MacFarlane Commission, ACCA, Melbourne.https://www.sampetersen.com.au
• Sophie Cassar is an artist and writer living in Naarm/Melbourne. Sophie’s studio practice engages painting, installation and artist books. Her writing practice responds to cultural representations of illness. She has recently completed Honours in Fine Art at Monash University and her work has been included in programs at West Space, Gertrude Contemporary, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, and Bus Projects.