Board

Clothilde Bullen is the Lead, Cultural Strategy and Development at Edith Cowan University and is a Wardandi (Nyoongar) and Badimaya (Yamatji) Aboriginal woman. She was previously the Curator and Head of Indigenous Programs at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections and Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and prior to that, the Curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia for over a decade. Most recently, she co-curated the award-winning John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new, and The National: New Australian Art, and Richard Bell: You Can Go Now for the MCA in 2021. 

Clothilde is on the international selection panel for the British Council’s Intersect program and is a current Board member for the Australian charter of the International Association for Art Critics. She is also a Museums and Histories Board member for Create NSW and is an Alumni member of the British Council Accelerate Scholarship for Indigenous Leadership in the Arts. Clothilde’s advocacy continues with her position as co-Chair of Indigenous Voices, a program supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mentors and emerging writers in collaboration with Art Monthly Australasia and the Power Institute at Sydney University. 

Dr Ryan Presley was born in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, and currently lives and works in Meanjin/Brisbane. His father’s family is Marri Ngarr and originates from the Moyle River region in the Northern Territory. His mother’s family were Scandinavian immigrants to Australia. 

A full-time artist, Ryan’s practice wrestles with themes of power and dominion—in particular, how religion and economic control served colonialism and empire building over time, and the representation of its customs and edifices in our everyday lives.

His recent major solo exhibition, Fresh Hell, was co-commissioned by Adelaide Contemporary Experimental and Gertrude Contemporary in 2022. His work is held in public collections, which include the Museum of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, and the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Ryan is represented by Milani Gallery and completed a PhD through Griffith University in 2016.

Abdul Abdullah is an Australian multi-disciplinary artist. As a self-described ‘outsider amongst outsiders’ with a post 9/11 mindset, his practice is primarily concerned with the experience of the ‘other’ and is particularly interested in the disjuncture between perception/projection of identity and the reality of lived experience. Identifying as a Muslim and having both Malay/Indonesian and convict/settler Australian heritage, Abdullah occupies a precarious space in the political discourse that puts him at odds with popular definitions. He sees himself as an artist working in the peripheries of a peripheral city, in a peripheral country, orbiting a world on the brink. His work has been censored by politicians who have accused him of attacking Australian culture, and once a member of the Christian Democratic party wrote that Abdullah wants to “convert young Australians” and that he “worships a moon god”.

Lisa Radford is an artist and writer. More often than not she works with others, most recently with Sam George and Yhonnie Scarce but previously with TCB art inc. and as a member of the collective DAMP. Currently working in the Painting Department at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, she shares thoughts publicly and intermittently in the The Saturday Paper.

Michelle Vine is an artist, educator, and researcher whose practice explores sensory experience, disability, and wellbeing. Recent career highlights include her solo show ‘Soft Touch’ at Caboolture Regional Art Gallery; curation into 'Drawn Thread: 50 years of Feminism and Fibre' at Artisan Brisbane; Hatched 2020 at Perth Institute of Contemporary Art; and Touch and Tactility in Art, Kemper Art Museum, St Louis, USA.

Michelle graduated from Queensland College of Art (QCA), Brisbane in 2019 with a Bachelor of Fine Art (First Class Honours) and the University Medal for Fine Art. As an academic she has taught across Fine Art, Photography and Design at the QCA. Currently she works for Griffith University’s Indigenous Research Unit as a Research Support Officer.

Living in Meanjin (Brisbane), Michelle has actively practiced as an artist for over a decade; prior to that she held senior management positions in the financial services and technology sectors. She brings to the NAVA board a combination of business and governance skills, now applied to her thriving arts practice, along with lived experience of disability which informs her artworks and her advocacy for disability inclusion.

Patrice Sharkey is a curator, writer and arts worker who lives in Naarm. She is currently Head of Exhibitions and Programs at TarraWarra Museum of Art, and was previously Artistic Director of Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE), and prior to that, the Director of West Space in Melbourne (2015-2018). Patrice's work experience also spans the university and commercial sectors, including roles as Assistant Curator at Monash University Museum of Art and Gallery Assistant at Sutton Gallery. She received a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), majoring in Art History / Cultural Studies, from the University of Melbourne in 2010, and is an alumni of the Australia Council's Future Leaders Program. 

Sophia Nampitjimpa Sambono is a Jingili woman with family connections from Elliot/Newcastle Waters to Darwin, Daly River and the Tiwi Islands. She is the Associate Curator, Indigenous Australia Art at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) where she is working on a number of exhibitions opening in 2024, including the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial. Prior to QAGOMA Sophia curated exhibitions for kuril dhagun at the State Library of Queensland and as Curator of Indigenous Collections at the National Film and Sound Archive.

Kate Joannou is an experienced administrator across not for profit and government sectors with a focus on supporting Boards and Committees. She is currently the Policy and Communications Manager at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium in South Australia.

Anjli Punia is based in Coffs Harbour, on the mid-north coast of NSW. She is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ), and 14 years of accounting and finance experience across several industries including transport, primary production, taxation insolvency and bankruptcy, and financial reporting.