Caroline Rothwell

Born in Yorkshire, England, artist Caroline Rothwell currently lives and works on Gadigal Country in Sydney. She has a research-driven practice investigating how ideologies and beliefs have shaped contemporary society. Approached through a scientific lens, her works explore human interaction with nature throughout history and its lasting effects. Rothwell works across two-and three-dimensional media and animated film, often manipulating representations of living systems alongside industrial forms.  

 Selected exhibitions and projects include: The National 2021: New Australian Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia; Know My Name: Australia Women Artists 1900 to Now, National Gallery of Australia; Caroline Rothwell, Horizon, Hazlehurst Regional Art Gallery (2021); Corpus, solo show, Yavuz Gallery, Singapore (2021); Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize2021, winner; Inspiracje Breathtaking 2017, TRAFO Centre for Contemporary Art, Szczecin, Poland; Fragil, XIII Biennale of Cuenca, Ecuador (2016); Dark Heart: 2014 Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia. She has undertaken international residencies at Cambridge University Museums (2015), OMI International Arts Centre, New York (2014), and Nottingham University (2004) and in 2020 collaborated with Google Creative Lab to create Infinite Herbarium. 

In 2016 Caroline was awarded the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia’s Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission for her work Composer. Rothwell has a BA from the University of the Arts, London, an MFA in Sculpture from Hunter College, City University of New York and University of Auckland. 

In this video, Caroline challenges policymakers to recognise the public value of the visual arts and reflects on building community for industry survival.

Video production by Jimmi Fenton 2021.

Image: Caroline Rothwell. Photo by Jenni Carter.