jill orr

Jill Orr has delighted, shocked and moved audiences through her performance installations which she has presented in cities such as Paris, Beijing, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Antwerp New York, Toronto, Quebec City, Graz, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane from the late nineteen seventies to now.

Orr’s work centres on issues of the psycho- social and environmental where she draws on land and identities as they are shaped in, on and with the environment be it country or urban locales.
Orr’s early iconic work Bleeding Trees has led to  commissions such as Marriage of the Bride to Art,  Raising the Spirits, Exhume the Grave, Hunger, The Myer Windows, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters,  Goya and Ash, to name only a few works which have contributed to the contemporary cultural landscape. Orr grapples with the balance and discord that exists at the heart of relations between the human spirit, art and nature.

In 2004 Jill Orr created From the Sea about the wild shipwreck coastline of Warrnambool. This panoramic video installation was created in collaboration with the Gunditmara Aboriginal Community from Warrnambool. From the Sea began a body of work that traces overlapping histories of indigenous and non- indigenous relations to place. She has recently completed The Crossing, which was presented for the 2007 Mildura and Wentworth Festival.

Higher Diploma of Secondary Art and Craft Teaching, Melbourne College of Advanced Education,1975

Masters of Arts in Fine Art, Royal Melbourne University of Technology,1994 

Monash University, Art and Design, PHD, beginning 2006

Sustainable Cubbies with the Avoca Primary School for the Eco- Living Festival, Avoca, directed by Lyndal Jones

2008

Heat: Art and Climate Change, RMIT Gallery curated by Linda Williams and Suzanne Davies   

2008

When You Think about Art : Ewing and George Paton Gallery 1971 – 2008  curated and published  by Helen Vivian

2008

William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize at the Monash Gallery of Art  finalist

2008

Southern Cross Reflections, Maroondah Art Gallery,   Melbourne

2008

The Crossing photo/ video installation, Mildura Arts Centre

2008

LOOP 2008 Barcelona, video festival

2007

Blake Religious Art Prize, touring exhibition

2007

A Prayer, performance, Inter- Positions 24hr Art, Darwin Festival

2007

Digging in & Climbing Out, photographs at Carni, Melbourne 

2007

The Crossing performance event. Mildura & Wentworth Festival

2006

Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, finalist 

2006

Land, paintings and works on paper, Gallery 25, Mildura 

2005

Howl Festival, performance, video, Generation X Garden, E4th St, Alphabet City, New York

2005

Text Me, photographs, Sherman Galleries, Sydney

2005

Artist in Residence, Redgate Gallery, Beijing

2005

Drawing Dust, Altitude, paintings, Maroondah Art Gallery, Redgate Gallery, Beijing

2004

Ash, performance and paintings, Shepparton and Sale Art Galleries 

2004

EveN photographs and video, group show, Mildura Art Gallery 

2004

From the Sea, video installation, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Arts Vic.

2004

Altitude Art, photographs, group, Redgate Gallery, Beijing, Mass Gallery, Melbourne John Batten Gallery, Hong Kong.

2003

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters – Goya, performance installation, 45 Downstairs, Melbourne, City of Melbourne.

2002 / 3   

The Field, Inaugural Show, National Gallery of Victoria, Ian Potter , Federation Square.

2002

Ash, paintings, drawings, and performance, Mass gallery, Melbourne

2002

Ash, Artist in Residence, Parks Victoria and the Nillumbic Shire 

2002

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters – Goya, performance installation, Artspace, Sydney.

2002

Geelong Art Prize, painting selected for exhibition, Geelong Art Gallery

2002

The Fleurieu Art Prize, painting selected for exhibition.

2001 / 2  

Digital Ghosts, photographic installation, Mass Gallery, Redgate Gallery, Beijing, Tin Sheds, Sydney, curated by Tony Scott and Sally Grey.

1999

Mud People, paintings, sculpture, performance, Herring Island Melbourne.

1999

Artist in Residence, Cite Des Arts International, Paris

1999

Presence 1, Mass Gallery, Melbourne.

1999

Hunger 2, performance, International Performance Arts Festival, Quebec City, Canada.

1999

Hunger 3, performance, 11a / 7d/ International performance Art Festival, Toronto, Canada.

1999

Telling Tales, Trauma and Memory, Cross Cultural Perspectives  photographs, Gallery Neue, Graz, Austria, curated by Jackie Dunn and Jill Bennett.

1999

Exhume the Grave, commissioned by the Geelong Art Gallery 

1998

A Bundle of Papers, works on paper, John Batten Gallery, Hong Kong, curated by Tony Scott.

1998

Telling tales, Trauma & Memory, Cross Cultural Perspectives, photographs and performance, Hunger 1, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, curated by Jackie Dunn and Jill Bennett.

1997

Myer Windows, performance installation, Melbourne International Festival for the Arts, curated by Maudie Palmer.

1996

Sound Silence and Light, commissioned  performance installation,  Brisbane Festival for the Arts, IMA, Brisbane.

1996

Women Hold up the Sky, photographs, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, curator, Roger Butler. 

1994

Lunch with the Birds, photographs, The Beach, Museum of Modern Art, Heide ,  curator Juliana Engberg.

1994

Raising the Spirits, commissioned performance installation for Persona Cognita, Museum of Modern Art at Hiede, curated by Juliana Engberg.

1994

Marriage of the Bride to Art, commissioned performance  for Celebrating Women, Drydocks and Slipways, National Gallery of Victoria, curated by Jane Scott.

1994

25 years of Performance ,photo-documentation, Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Melbourne curated by Nick Waterlow.

1992

Love Songs, performance season by popular demand, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.

1991

Love Songs, performance installation IMA, Brisbane, ACCA, Melbourne, Dissonance, Frames of Reference, Artspace, Sydney

1991

Off the Wall In the Air, A Seventies Selection, performance, photographs  Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.

1990

Jill Orr,  Photo – Documentation from 1978 – 1989, photographs and performance, The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Geelong Art Gallery, Bendigo Art Gallery, Mildura Art Gallery, Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, Canberra Contemporary Art Space.

1989

Paintings, solo show, DC Art, Sydney

1989

Paintings, solo show, 312 Lennox St, Richmond. 

1988

Australian Painters, 312 Lennox St, Richmond

1987

Paintings, 312 Lennox St, Richmond

1986

From Field to Figuration, National Gallery of Victoria.   

1985

The Amsterdam Process, Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne

1984

The Amsterdam Process, Performance Space, Sydney

1983

The Digging In & the Climbing Out, performance / Earthwork, Act 3, Canberra.

1982

Paintings, solo, Gallery Theeboom, Amsterdam.

1982

Headed South, performance, salon O, Amsterdam and IMA, Belgium.

1982

Meeting the Opposites, performance installation, Eurecha, Australian Artists in London, IMA London. Curators Leon Parissean and Burnese Murphy. 

1981

Paintings, Gallery Theeboom, Amsterdam. 

1980

She had Long Golden Hair, performance, Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide.

1980

Bleeding Trees, performance, Paris Biennalle,  Musee DÀrt  Modern, Paris.

1980

Do You Speak? Performance, Mixage Festival, Rotterdam ,Utrect, Breda, Amsterdam.

1980

Split- Fragile Relationships, Women at work, Ewing and George Paton Gallery, Melbourne University

1979

Bleeding Trees, performance, Sydney Biennalle, Euoropean Dialogue  New South Wales Art Gallery & Power House, Sydney.

1979

Pain Melts and Lunch with the Birds, photo-documentation, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.

1978

Response, performance earthwork, Mildura Triennalle.

1978

Map of Transition, Ewing and George Paton Gallery, Melbourne

1978

Blinding Surface & Inside Jacks Head, Ewing & George Paton Gallery

2006 / 7 

Mildura & Wentworth Arts Festival, funding for The Crossing 

2006 / 7 

Vic Health, funding for The Crossing 

2006 / 7 

Regional Arts Victoria, funding for The Crossing 

2006 / 7 

Arts Victoria, funding for The Crossing   

2005

Redgate Gallery, Beijing, China, artist in residence - research. 

2002

Nillumbik Shire and Parks Victoria – artist in residence  –  Ash, paintings and performance installation.

2002

City of Melbourne, Project Grant -   The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters – Goya, performance  installation

1999

Geelong Art Gallery, commission - Exhume the Grave, performance installation

1999

Australia Council, Artist in Residence at the Cite des Arts, Paris.

1998

Arts Victoria, Project Grant, Mass Gallery, Melbourne - Presence 1., performance installation.

1998

International Performance Art Festival, Quebec City and Toronto, Canada, commission -    Hunger, performance installation. 

1997

Melbourne International Festival for the Arts, commission - Either / Orr: Myer Windows, performance installation.

1996

Brisbane Festival for the Arts, commission - Sound Silence and Light, performance installation

1995

Australia Council, Hybrid Arts - Professional Development 

1995

Methodist Ladies College Art Prize - painting, winner

1994

National Gallery of Victoria, Celebrating Women - Marriage of the Bride to Art   performance 

1994

Museum of Modern Art at Hiede, Persona Cognita  -  Raising the Spirits, performance installation

1992

Methodist Ladies College Art Prize - painting, winner

1991 / 2 

Australia Council, Fellowship Award - Love Songs, performance installation

1986 / 7 

Australia Council, Theatre Board - Production Grant

1982

Australia Council, Funded participation in Eureka, Australian Artists in London at the Institute of Modern Art, London.  Meeting of the Opposites, performance installation.

1980

Funded participation, Performance Art Festival, ACT 3. Canberra.  - The Digging in and the Climbing Out.  Performance / earthwork.

1979

Australia Council, Visual Arts Board – Funded participation in the Paris Biennale, Musee D’Art Modern, Paris – Bleeding Trees  performance.

1979

Australia Council Visual Arts Board -Travel Grant 

When you think about Art: The Ewing and George Paton Gallery 1971 – 2008, ed. Helen Vivian ,Macmillan Art Publishing , 2008 

Art in Sight: Volume 2, L. Chamberlain, McGraw Hill Co. 2006 

The Darkroom Photography and the Theatre of Desire Anne Marsh, Macmillan Art Publishing 2003

At Home in Australia Peter Conrad, National Gallery of Australia in association with Thames and Hudson 2003

Australian Art in the National Gallery of Australia edited by Anne Gray, produced by the Publications Department of the National Gallery of Australia 2003

Peripheral Vision Contemporary Australian Art 1970-1994 Charles Green, Craftsman House 1996

Art in Sight   L. Chamberlain, McGraw Hill Book Co. 1996

Art Now Contemporary Art Post 1970 D. Williams and C. Simpson, McGraw Hill Book co. 1994

Body and Self: Performance Art in Australia 1969-92 Anne Marsh Oxford University Press 1993

Sight Lines: Women’s Art and Perspectives in Australia, Sandy Kirby, Craftsman House 1992

Anything Goes; Art in Australia 1970-1980 Ed. Paul Taylor Art & Text, Melbourne 1984

Experimental Art Foundation, Performance Week, Ed. Noel Sheridan, Experimental Art Foundation Press, Adelaide. 1980

Live Art Australia and America Ed. Jane Kent and Anne Marsh self published Adelaide 1984

New Art Three; Profiles in Contemporary Australian Art, Ed. N. Dury Craftsman House 1989

Field of Vision: A Decade of Women’s Art in the Seventies, Janine Bourke Viking Press, Melbourne 1990

Faith in a Faithless Land, 2009. Essay by Damian Smith

Heat: Art and Climate Change RMIT Gallery  2008  curator Dr Linda Williams and Suzanne Davies

Guia Loop Barcelona 2008 Festival , Generalitat de Cataluna Institute Catala de les Iddustries Culturals , 2008

Ash: Jill Orr, Mass Gallery Melbourne 2002, essay by Helen Vivian

Eye-deals, Griffith Artworks March 2000

Telling Tales, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney Curated and written by Jackie Dunn and Jill Bennett 1998

Festivities Issue No. 12, Melbourne Festival 1997

Pulse Fiction, October / November 1997 Plimsoll gallery, Centre for the Arts Hobart - Curated by Leigh Hobba

The Beach, Museum of Modern Art at Hiede, catalogue essay by Geoffrey Dutton 1994

Persona Cognita, Museum of Modern Art at Hiede, Essay Museum of Selves by Juliana Engberg 1994

Tony Scott and Jill Orr Looking in and Looking Out, paintings at Meridian Gallery, essay by Roger Taylor 1994

Raising the Spirits, Museum of Modern Art at Heide The Bride and the Bachelors,  essay by Anne Marsh 1994

25 Years of Performance Art in Australia, curator Nick Waterlow 1994 University of NSW College of Fine Arts

Jill Orr. Performance Documentation 1978-1988, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne The “I “in the Gaze: Aspects of the Body and the Self in Performance works by Jill Orr essay by Anne marsh

Women at Work George Paton Gallery, Melbourne University 1980 edited by J Annear and A Danko

Act 3: Ten Australian performance Artists, Canberra School of Art, Australian National University, Canberra Oct. 1982

A Dreamscape of human and environmental loss. Robert Nelson The Age Wednesday May 20, 2009. P 16.

Chris McAuliffe investigates the trend of environmentally conscious art. S98522:  RMIT Heat: Art and Climate Change, ABC 1 TV,  Sunday Arts, October 12th, 2008.

Performance Art and its Documentation: a photo / video essay, Anne Marsh p 15 - 29 About Performance: Still/ Moving : Photography and Live Image  2008 Department of Performance Studies University of Sydney 2008 . Published by University Publishing Service, University of Sydney 

Changing the Artistic Climate , Andrew Stephens The Age  Saturday September 6 2008 . A2 section  page 19

Jill Orr – Under the Southern Cross, Damian Smith curator Maroondah Art Gallery, Trouble Arts Traffic April 2008 

Art Links Past and Present, Adrian Bernecich, Maroondah Leader, Tuesday 8th April 2008

Images of Power .Danica Harris, Maroondah Journal, Tuesday 15 April 2008

Jill Orr- Under the Southern Cross; Damian Smith. Trouble arts Traffic, April 08

Crossing draws parallels with climate change: Mildura Midweek, Tuesday Feburary 26, 2008

At Play in Public Space: Alison Gray Encounters Interpositions at the Darwin Festival: Real Time, No 81 October –November 2007 

The Crossing, Kate Gerritson, Groundwork , Regional Arts Victoria, 2007 

Resident has Bone to Pick with Artist, Herald Sun, Sat June 21 2003 

A Bone to Pick, www.domain.com.au, Sat June 21 2003, Roland Rocchiccoli

The Bush Tames a Rebel, Diamond Valley Leader July 3 2003 Jan Harkin

Digital Ghosts, Imprint Autumn 2002, Volume 37, No. 1, Damien Smith 

Mass gallery Closes with Jill Orr Show, The Age Wed Nov 6 2002 Megan Backhouse 

An Interview with Jill Orr Rubric Cube, A medium for Young Artists, Issue 2 2003, ed. Daniel Duckworth

Blood and Death, Art Monthly April 2003 No 158 Anne Marsh

The Answer is Buried, Herald Sun sat April 24 1999 Sarah Hudson

The Beach, ABC Television, viewed April 2001, Featherstone Productions 

Presence 1 This Place: Jill Orr Mass Gallery Melbourne 2000, Like Magazine No 14, Autumn 2001, Vicki McInnes

Orr Inspiring Body of Work Visual Arts, The Age, Tues Dec. 19 2000, Megan Backhouse pp48/49

The Eye of the Beholder, Real-time No 37 pp 12, June 2000 M. Lynch 

Performing Histories and the Myth of Place, N Paradoxa, International feminist Art Journal Vol. 3 1999 Anne Marsh pp 10

Jill’s Glass Act, Herald Sun Arts Entertainment Mon Oct 13 1997 F. Lewis pp 84

Information, The Australian Financial Review, Fri Oct 17, 1997 Stan beer, p 59

Looking in looking Out, Spinout Jan 27 1995 M O. Donnel, p 9

Three Themes on the Art of Teamwork, The Age Wed 1st Feb. p 19, 1995 Robert Nelson

Body Art, Ritual versus Spectacle C.T. Arts 1995 M. Black

A Kiln for Firing the Imagination photo and caption, Craig Abraham The Age Fri Sept 16 1994. p 7

Meanings Spirited Out of the Body, The Age, Wed 21 Sept. 1994, p 23 A. Stephens

The Melbourne Festival, Eyeline No. 35, Summer 1997/8, p 38 Julie Cotter

Take it to the Limit, Volt Program Brisbane Festival B. Jackson Eyeline No 32 Summer 1996 p 7 

The Inception of Feminism and Performance Art in the 1970’s, Agenda Contemporary Art vol no 2, special supplement; Art the Present and Recent Past of Australian Art and Criticism pp10-12, written by Anne marsh.1996

Starting with the Environment, Interact No 195, 1995

Raising the Spirits, Art Monthly, Australia April 1995, Penny Trotter

Art Attack, Black and White no 6, 1994, B. Crawford

Drydocks and Slipways, Eyeline No 24, 1994, A. King

Religion, Literature & Art, Australian International Conference 1994 ed.Michael Griffith and Ross Keating written. By Jane Magon

Re-writing the Seventies Melbourne Experience, Art monthly No 22. July 1989 p 7-8. Charles Green

Orr, Hearman, Kruger, Art Monthly No 20 1989 pp 15-16, C. Heathcote

Map of Transition, J. Orr photos and poem, LIP 1978 / 79 p 10-11

Relics and Rituals, P. Taylor (ed) Anything Goes: Art in Australia 1970-1980 Art and Text, Melbourne 1984 first published (ext cat) National Gallery of Victoria 1981. Robert Lindsay.

Adelaide performance Art and the EAF, Art network No 2, Spring, 1980 p 43. T. Reid

National Gallery of Victoria

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Nillumbic Shire

Methodist Ladies College

Griffith Artworks

Mildura Art Gallery

Geelong Art Gallery

Redgate Gallery Beijing

The Graeme Gibson Collection

Maroondah City Council

Monash Gallery of Art

Monash University Art & Design Library Collection

Private collections in Australia, Holland, England, France, USA, Belgium and China