NAVA: The National Association for the Visual Arts
acknowledges the Gadigal peoples of the Eora Nation
where our office is located, and all Custodians of country
throughout all lands, waters and territories.
We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future.

Gabriella Hirst: So, I'm Gabriella Hirst, I am an artist.
I work mainly with moving image and performance,
but I, my work is deeply grounded in a strong research practice.
I do a lot of reading and a lot of writing and field work,
and the media that I use responds to that research.

QUESTION: WHAT HAS BEEN A TURNING POINT IN YOUR CAREER?

It's a really good question,
because I feel like the idea of a turning point is a tricky thing,
because I have had opportunities over the last decade
that have really challenged me and formed the way that I work
and have really pushed me to make, to, like, develop my practice.
And some of the opportunities have involved
scholarships to go overseas, recently,
also to have this film that I was commissioned to do
that really was a step up in my practice
and that meant that I was working with a team.
But on the other hand, I would like to say that...
this idea of turning points and, like,
it has this kind of undertone of constant progression
and a lot of just being an artist is just a continual kind of,
there's a lot of just answering emails and like...
not like this idea that you're always going forwards.
I feel like you have these opportunities that come forward
and they do push you in a way but at the same time,
you can then just like have a huge lull period.
It puts a kind of bizarre expectation on a practice,
that we should always be pushing,
which doesn't really seem to me
conducive to having a sustainable practice.

QUESTION: IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE RESHAPED IN THE ART SECTOR?


In terms of a funding model,
something that I have really appreciated whilst living in the UK has been -
and I know, this comes from it being, like, a larger pool of people -
but there are certain grant structures that seem aimed towards
just supporting practice without concrete,
to talk about what I was saying before, like progressions,
to be able to get a grant without being, like, having to say,
I have this big exhibition at the end.
Just normalising the fact that in our economy we need support,
because this economy that we're in, doesn't actually support,
just artists, just to work
and if you think artwork is important, which I deeply do,
and I feel like it's very clear that telling stories is important
for the society that we live in...
you just need to trust that artists are gonna do that.
And a lot of that work doesn't produce key outcomes.
It's just doing the work.
It's a lot of it is really mediocre.
A lot of it is just needing money to be able to have a workspace,
perhaps, if you need one.
Needing money just to not have to do other work, other jobs,
whilst you're doing your full time job as an artist.

QUESTION: WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY IN YOUR WORK?

Different things.
Coming up with ideas, when it kind of all comes together
and you know you've just been like researching and doing things,
and making things and not really knowing where it's going,
and then sometimes it just kind of falls together and you're like,
oh, that makes sense and I didn't think it was gonna make sense,
and it makes sense.
That gives me a great deal of joy.
There's a lot of stuff that doesn't give me joy.
It's not, there's a lot of stuff that's a slog, that's boring,
that's painful, that's frustrating, but there's more stuff
that gives me joy.