Genevieve Memory
Artist. Composer. Writer
About
If I had to describe myself in one word, it would be 'melodist' - soaring, lyrical melodies are the trademark of my work.
Genevieve Memory is a visual artist, composer, writer and egalitarian living and working on First Nation’s land in Meanjin/Brisbane. She primarily works in painting and expanded painting. Genevieve writes catalogue and long-form essays for herself and others, composes choral music for the community choir Pro Music Singers, and is represented by the Australian Music Centre.
Visual artist
Genevieve combines painting and sculpture with clothing, fabric and textiles to create hybrid art objects including low relief painted sculptures, wearable painted dresses, text banners, installations, and public art interventions that challenge the boundaries between art and life, and object and artwork. She also creates contemporary tonal realist portraits of everyday people, and abstract paintings.
Genevieve's main themes are identity and the mind, which are realised as expanded portraiture and self-portraiture. She is particularly interested in gender as expressed and read through the language of clothes. Her rolling project, The semiotics of the dress, challenges viewers to reconsider rigid gender and identity boundaries in contemporary society by interrogating the sign value of women’s clothing and its relationship to gender bias. Many theorists including Eco, Barthes and Wilson have proposed that clothing functions as a system of signs, or a kind of language. By using women’s clothing in this project, Genevieve aims to engage viewers in a discussion about what it means to identify or be identified as a woman today. This work is important in the broader context because gender equality for women has not been achieved in Australia - women and girls of all identities continue to face disadvantage and discrimination due to persisting conscious and unconscious biases.
This year, Australia is experiencing a resurgence of media and public interest in the problem of persistent gender inequality for women. This may be the result of cultural recalibration prompted by the pandemic and the influence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Genevieve notes that contemporary public discourse on the topic, as opposed to that found in the university or art world sectors, seldom references feminism. This reframing of women's issues from an egalitarian or humanist perspective is precisely where she places her practice.
New work begun at the Tweed Regional Gallery artist in residence program in January 2021 opens discussion around the gender spectrum by including men’s clothing, making the project more inclusive of LGBT+ people and men.
Genevieve has completed artist residencies at Tweed Regional Gallery and Sculptors Qld and was a finalist in the biennial 2020 Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize at the Lismore Regional Gallery with her isolation self-portrait No judging (me and my curlew gang). In April 2021 she participated in the group show What Matters at KEPK. In May-June 2021, she participated in the Hall & Wilcox Brisbane 2021 Acquisitive Art Show for emerging artists, which she curated over an 18 month period.
Individual Visual Art exhibitions
January 2022 - The Semiotics of the Dress (Hobart), Sidespace Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart (postponed from April 2021 due to COVID-19)
November 2020 - Object memory poem, residency open studio, Sculptors Qld, Bowen Hills
February-March 2020 - Dress Shop Window Wonderland, Window Gallery, Pine Rivers Art Gallery, Strathpine
October 2019-ongoing - Revolving solo exhibition at The Post Lounge, film & television post-production house, Woolloongabba
September 2019 - My shiny new egalitarianism, Glass Box Gallery, Griffith QCA Southbank
August 2019 - The Semiotics of the Dress (Bendigo)/The Wondering Project (community collaborative art project), Dudley House, Bendigo (to coincide with the Bendigo community choir Women of Note's 20th Anniversary Gala)
March 2019 - The Semiotics of the Dress, Grey Street Gallery, Griffith QCA Southbank
August 2018 - Pictures of You, Glass Box Gallery, Griffith QCA Southbank
July - December 2017 - Outside In, Level 2, St Vincent's Private Hospital Brisbane
January - October 2016 - Outside In, Level 8, St Vincent's Private Hospital Brisbane
Group Visual Art exhibitions
May-June 2021 - Hall & Wilcox Acquisitive Art Show 2021, Brisbane CBD (rescheduled due to COVID-19)
April 2021 - What Matters, KEPK, exhibiting artist & opening night performance (painted dress)
February 2021 - Abstraction, RQAS
July 2020 - Member's Annual, RQAS
March 2020 - PERSIST, International Women's Day show at Glass Box, Griffith QCA
January 2020 - Boiling Point, The Third Quarter gallery, Brisbane
January 2020 - Fifty Squared, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
August 2019 - Gems from the Closet, RQAS
October-November 2018 - Nobody wants to leave this party, Griffith QCA Graduate Exhibition
April 2018 - Blood and Water, Greaser Bar, Fortitude Valley
February 2018 - Green, Percolator Gallery
January - February 2018 - Expanded, Pop Gallery
July 2017 - Impressions 11, Impress Studios and Gallery
June 2017 - Outside In launch exhibition, St Vincent's Private Hospital Brisbane
February 2017 - New Ways of Seeing exhibition, privately hosted with Perrin Millard and guests
July 2016 - 50 Hour Print Project exhibition, White Box Gallery, Griffith University QCA
June 2016 - Outside In launch exhibition, St Vincent's Private Hospital Brisbane
May 2016 - The Abstract Exhibition, RQAS
April 2016 - Harold and Agnes Richardson Memorial Drawing Prize, RQAS
March 2016 - Diversity in Print Prize, RQAS
February 2016 - New Ways of Seeing exhibition, privately hosted with Perrin Millard
November 2015 - Dirty Fingers, Love Love Studios Milton
Residencies
January 2021 - Tweed Regional Gallery Artist In Residence program, Murwillumbah
September-November 2020 - Sculptors Queensland Artist In Residence program, Brisbane
Visual art awards and exhibitions
February 2021 - Abstraction Prize, RQAS, Commended for Fragile/Bare (diptych) from the Paperskin series
November 2020-January 2021 - Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize, Lismore Regional Gallery, finalist for No judging (me and my curlew gang)
October-November 2019 - 44th Rio Tinto Martin Hanson Memorial Art Awards, finalist for Untitled (silver shift dress)
May 2019 - Moreton Bay Region Art Awards, finalist for Pink party dress (for Jenny) (2D category/painting)
August - October 2018 - Redland Art Awards, finalist for The Three Graces (biennial contemporary painting award)
May 2018 - Moreton Bay Region Art Awards, finalist for Linen dress (3D category/expanded sculpture)
Curation and co-curation
Feb 2020 - June 2021 - Hall & Wilcox Brisbane group show (postponed due to COVID-19) (sole curator)
August 2019 - The Semiotics of the Dress (Bendigo)/The Wondering Project (Bendigo) community collaborative art project (sole curator)
March 2019 - The Semiotics of the Dress/IWD 2021, Grey Street Gallery & QCA concourse (sole curator)
February 2018 - Green, Percolator Gallery (co-curator)
January - February 2018 - Expanded, Pop Gallery (Logan Rd) (sole curator)
February 2017 - New Ways of Seeing (co-curator)
February 2016 - New Ways of Seeing (co-curator)
Artist talks
May 2021 - Artist talk for Hall & Wilcox group show
September 2020 - Solo artist talk and community engagement activity for Sculptors Qld residency Objects as memory-keepers and relics of material culture: How objects inform our identities
March 2019 - Two solo artist talks for The Semiotics of the Dress (Grey Street)
January 2018 - Group artist talk for Expanded
Collaborative art projects
March-August 2019 - The Wondering Project (Bendigo), Dudley House. A collaborative art project with the women from the Bendigo community choir, Women of Note
Publications
2021 - Silent Waves, exhibition catalogue essay for Patricia Olazo, Grey Street Gallery
2021 - In Transitions, exhibition catalogue essay for the In Transitions project, Redland Art Gallery
2021 - Dear Feminism: Interrogating the myth of Australian women's gender equality and critiquing feminism's role in Australia's inability to achieve it, long-form essay
2020 - Object memory poem, exhibition catalogue essay
2020 - Objects as memory-keepers and relics of material culture: How objects inform our identities, artist talk
2019 - The Semiotics of the Dress (Bendigo), exhibition catalogue essay
2019 - The Power of Feminism and Feminist Art in the Contemporary Moment, long-form essay
2019 - The Semiotics of the Dress, exhibition catalogue essay
2019 - Griffith University diary, Pictures of You portrait series, 2017-18
2018 (25 November) - Redlands Art and Culture, The Great Day Out, Channel 7, The Three Graces features in this short video as part of the Redland Art Awards 2018 http://thegreatdayout.com.au/episodes/redlands-art-and-culture
2018 - Centenary, a collection of interviews with introductory essay to accompany the portrait series of the same name
Visual Art collections
2018 - Centenary book of interviews, National Library of Australia and State Library of Queensland John Oxley Library
2016-2017 - Artworks, St Vincent's Private Hospital Brisbane
2016-ongoing - Artworks, private collections
Visual Art education
2015-June 2019 - Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) with Distinction, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University
Visual Art education awards
2019 - Graduated with Distinction, Bachelor of Fine Art, Griffith University
2018 - Academic Excellence award, Bachelor of Fine Art, Griffith University
2017 - Academic Excellence award, Bachelor of Fine Art, Griffith University
2016 - Academic Excellence award, Bachelor of Fine Art, Griffith University
2015 - Academic Excellence award, Bachelor of Fine Art, Griffith University
Visual Art workshops and training
June 2021 - Protect Your Practice: Copyright Your Craft, online workshop, Craft Victoria
March 2021 - Indigenous Protocols with Warraba Weatherall, virtual workshop, Outer Space
June 2020 - Knowing Fabric, Hannah Gartside, makingart.work online project, IMA
June 2020 - Crisis and Denial, online forum, University of South Australia and The Conversation
October 2019 - Brisbane Portrait Prize Symposium, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University
September - October 2019 - observational drawing and painting classes with David Fenoglio at Atelier, Salisbury
March 2019 - professional practice workshops in pitching and grant-writing
October 2018 - Legal workshop for creative practitioners with Arts Law, Artisan
November 2017 - January 2018 - Gerhard Richter lecture series, QAGOMA
October 2017 - Gerhard Richter: Questions for Painters postgraduate symposium, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University
January 2017 - Etching course (hard and soft ground) with Simon White, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne
November 2016 - Etching and Collagraph Combined workshop with Gwenn Tasker, Impress Studios, Kedron
October 2016 - Print-making workshop (monoprint, chine colle, drypoint and screenprint) with Nancy Brown, BIA, Windsor
May 2016 - Shibori indigo dying workshop with Claudia Husband, South Brisbane
January 2016 - Etching course (hard-ground with aquatint) with Martin King, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne
Visual Art memberships
2020-21 - Guildhouse
2020-21 - Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2020-21 - Royal Queensland Art Society, Brisbane branch
2020 - Sculptors Qld
2019 - NAVA
2016-19 - Griffith University QCA Printmakers' Club
2016-17 - Print Council of Australia
Composer
Genevieve began composing while at school and gave her first public performance of an original composition at age 15. Her University of Qld composition tutors included Colin Brumby, Robert Boughen and Philip Bracanin. At the Jacques Dalcroze Institute in Geneva, she took classes in piano improvisation which complimented her more traditional Australian musical training.
Genevieve’s composition practice evolved organically when she began teaching, writing music as required to suit the needs of her students and choristers. Her works are scored for choir in various voicings, solo piano, solo flute, solo voice, cello and piano accompaniment, percussion ensemble, small mixed ensemble, and recorder consort. Genevieve’s compositional style ranges from contemporary art music, minimalism, neo-romanticism, and medieval dance music through to folk and popularist anthems and ballads. Discernible commonalities across the work are user-friendly, singable, memorable melodies and strong harmonic foundations.
Career highlights for Genevieve include winning the Melbourne Women’s Choir Call for Scores with Sleep and dreams (2003) and being commissioned to write the massed choir piece for the Victorian choral festival Come To The Music (2019). Genevieve’s compositions have been performed around Australia by school and community groups, with Wishing for the Cloths of Heaven a favourite at weddings and Two Songs about Stradbroke Island/Minjerribah a popular eisteddfod choice.
Currently, Genevieve is writing choral works for the Meanjin/Brisbane community choir Pro Musica Singers. In July, she will attend the Sydney online vocal composition workshop First Stones with Jenny Duck-Chong (Halcyon), Elliott Gyger (Melbourne Conservatorium) and Cameron Lam (APRA/AMCOS).
Music representation
2020-present - Pedagogical Artist, Australian Music Centre
Music publications
2020 - National Library of Australian and State Library of Queensland, complete set of printed works
2011-ongoing - Preliminary Grade SCSM Piano Examination Album, Banquet
2002 - Cited in Year 1-10 The Arts Curriculum, Queensland School Curriculum Council, as appropriate contemporary compositions for use in schools
2000 -ongoing - Self-publisher of original compositions
Music commissions
2018-19 - Massed choir piece for Women of Note 20th Anniversary Gala and Victorian choral festival Come to the Music, Bendigo, Victoria
2001 - Private commission
2001 - Recorder consort piece for St Laurence's College, South Brisbane
Music awards
2003 - Winner, Melbourne Women's Choir call for scores, Sleep and Dreams
Individual Music recordings
2000 - Scenes from an Imaginary Film, self-published
Group Music recordings
2009 - Sleep and Dreams, Voices of Birralee, directed by Julie Christiansen OAM
2005 - THE SYSTEM insane music, published by Brisbane Montessori School
1997 - Let Your Light Shine, published by Clayfield College
Music collections
2020 - Complete set of printed works, National Library of Australia and State Library of Queensland John Oxley Library (delivery post-COVID19 shutdowns)
2000-ongoing - Private, community and school collections
Composition workshops
July 2021 - First Stones Stage One voice writing online workshop with Jenny Duck-Chong (Halcyon), Elliott Gyger (Melbourne Conservatorium) and Cameron Lam (APRA/AMCOS), Sydney
Music memberships
2000 - Australian Music Centre
1993-1999 - Brisbane North District Review Panel member for Senior Music, Board of Senior Secondary School Studies
Music teaching
1995-1996 - Adult musicianship teacher, Clayfield School of Music, Brisbane
1991 - 2007 - Classroom music teacher, various state and private high schools and primary schools, Brisbane and Toowoomba
Music and Language education, workshops and training
2009-2013 - French language Levels 2-6, Institute of Modern Languages, University of Qld
2000-ongoing - Self-publisher of original compositions
1988-ongoing - Composer
1994-1998 - Choral conducting classes, various institutions
1993-1998 - Kodaly method classes in music and voice, Clayfield School of Music, Brisbane
1992 - Dalcroze method classes in music, movement and piano improvisation, Institut Jacques Dalcroze, Geneva, Switzerland
1987-1990 - Bachelor of Music Education (Classroom), University of Queensland
1987-1988 - German language, second subject in education degree, University of Queensland
1985-1990 - Queensland Youth Orchestra member QYOI (now QYSO), QYO II, QYO III
Writer
Publications
2021 - Silent Waves, exhibition catalogue essay for Patricia Olazo, Grey Street Gallery
2021 - In Transitions, exhibition catalogue essay for the In Transitions project, Redland Art Gallery
2021 - Dear Feminism: Interrogating the myth of Australian women's gender equality and critiquing feminism's role in Australia's inability to achieve it, long-form essay in lieu of catalogue essay for The Semiotics of the Dress (Nipaluna/Hobart)
2020 - Object memory poem, exhibition catalogue essay
2020 - Objects as memory-keepers and relics of material culture: How objects inform our identities, artist talk
2019 - The Semiotics of the Dress (Bendigo), exhibition catalogue essay
2019 - The Power of Feminism and Feminist Art in the Contemporary Moment, long-form essay
2019 - The Semiotics of the Dress (Grey Street), exhibition catalogue essay
2018 - Centenary, a collection of interviews with four Meanjin/Brisbane women creatives, with introductory essay, to accompany the portrait series of the same name
Proofreading, editing & website building experience
2019-2020 - Proof-reading, editing and art writing, Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane
2016-present - Website development and maintenance (visual and performing arts business website)
2000-present - Proof-reading and editing, Bonacci Infrastructure, engineering firm, Brisbane
Community service
2019 - Devised, co-ordinated and produced the community collaborative art project, The Wondering Project, with the women of the community choir Women of Note, Bendigo. The project asked participants to reflect on a key experience in their lives as women
2012, 2014 - Fortnightly supply and delivery of a meal to a family with a disabled child, Brisbane
2002–2006 - Volunteer in the roles of Vice-President, Secretary and Newsletter Editor, CleftPALS Qld (cleft palate and lip society), Brisbane