Carolyn Barnes

is academic director of research training in the School of Design and Architecture, Swinburne University of Technology.

By this author

Culture December 06, 2025

John Nixon’s Song of the Earth

Song of the Earth, the first comprehensive survey of John Nixon’s art practice from the 1960s until his death in 2020, is a testament to his tireless creativity.

Culture April 19, 2025

Tina Stefanou’s You Can’t See Speed

Tina Stefanou’s exhibition You Can’t See Speed draws on her Greek heritage to present a richly layered symbolic exploration of the urban fringe.

Culture July 26, 2025

Visual artist Rose Nolan

For more than 30 years, artist Rose Nolan has challenged the hierarchies of art with works of quiet resonance that explore how lived experience and the everyday shape meaning.

Culture March 08, 2025

Image Economies at MUMA

Image Economies at the Monash University Museum of Art shows how technology changes our relationship to representation – and to ourselves.

Culture December 21, 2024

Best visual art: how local narratives enriched global conversations

Looking back at the visual art highlights of 2024.

Culture November 09, 2024

Tony Clark: Unsculpted

The retrospective Tony Clark: Unsculpted reveals the artist’s enduring fascination with how taste has shaped the history of art.

Culture October 26, 2024

The inaugural Melbourne Sculpture Biennale

The first Melbourne Sculpture Biennale – held in a historic house in Kew – was a welcome survey of contemporary Australian practice.

Culture August 03, 2024

Kerrie Poliness’s Non-Objective Wildflowers

Kerrie Poliness’s latest series of geometrical abstractions reveals ecological vulnerabilities while proposing new ways of transferring knowledge.

Culture June 01, 2024

Geelong Gallery’s Cutting Through Time

Geelong Gallery’s thoughtfully curated exhibition of prints by Margaret Preston and Cressida Campbell challenges the inferior status of domestic art – especially if it’s by women.

Culture January 28, 2023

Peter Tyndall

The Peter Tyndall retrospective at Buxton Contemporary reveals an artist whose thought and work are at the centre of contemporary Australian art.

Culture September 03, 2022

John Nixon : White Paintings

A new exhibition at Anna Schwartz Gallery shows how Nixon’s experimental practice developed over five decades.