BIOGRAPHY
Dr Christian Thompson AO
Born 1978
Gawler, South Australia
EDUCATION
2015
Doctorate of Philosophy (Fine Art), Oxford University, Oxford, Britain
2008
Dasarts Advanced Studies in Performing Arts, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2004
Masters of Fine Art, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
1999
Bachelor of Visual Arts in Fine Art (Honors), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
1996
Bachelor of Visual Arts in Fine Art, University of Southern Queensland,Brisbane, Australia
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
Beta City, Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne
2019
Bayi Gardiya, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne
Christian Thompson: Ritual Intimacy, John Curtin Gallery, Perth
2018
Equinox, Michael Reid Berlin, part of EMOP Berlin - European Month of Photography
Moonlight Cactus, Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne
Christian Thompson: Ritual Intimacy, curated by Charlotte Day and Hetti Perkins, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, UNSW Galleries
Christian Thompson: Ritual Intimacy, curated by Charlotte Day and Hetti Perkins, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Anne & Gordon
Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia
2017
Lake Dolly, Michael Reid Sydney in Collaboration with Grace Partridge, Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Heat, Art Gallery WA
Lake, Dolly, Michael Reid Sydney
Christian Thompson: Ritual Intimacy, curated by Charlotte Day and Hetti Perkins, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
Christian Thompson: Ritual Intimacy, curated by Charlotte Day and Hetti Perkins, Monash University Museum of Art, Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane
Christian Thompson: Ritual Intimacy, curated by Charlotte Day and Hetti Perkins, Monash University Museum of Art, UNSW Galleries, Sydney
2016
Museum of Others, Photo London Fair, London, UK
Museum of Others, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney
Museum of Others, Michael Reid Gallery, Berlin, Germany Museum of Others, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Christian Thompson, Bega Valley Regional Gallery, Bega, NSW
2015
Collection: Christian Thompson, curated by Alana Kushnir, SCAF Project 29, Sherman
Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney
Christian Thompson REMIX: a decade of photography, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, NSW
Mystic Renegade - Christian Thompson, Chasm Gallery in collaboration with Michael Reid, Brooklyn,
New York, USA
Christian Thompson, Dead Tongue, Koorie Heritage Trust, Melbourne
2014
Polari, Gallery Gabrielle Pizz, Melbourne, Australia
2013
Pagan Sun, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2012
We Bury Our Own, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2011
King Billy, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2010
Christian Thompson Survey Show, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2010
Heat, Chalkhorse Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2009
Lost Together, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2008
Australian Graffiti, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2007
The Sixth Mile, Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2006
The Sixth Mile, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia
2004
The Gates of Tambo, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2003
Emotional Striptease, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2002
Show Me the Way to Go Home, George Adams Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Blaks Palace, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
BIGIYI (Dream to Dream), Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
Gundang Ngaya Burbala, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
Surreal Landscapes, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington
2020
Oracles, Te Whare Toi, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington
Arte Fiera, Galleria Marcolini, Bologna
Midsumma 2020: Venus in Thorns, Trocadero, Melbourne
2019
National Anthem, Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne curated by Kate Just
Queer as Folk Lore, National Art School, Sydney
Love, Displaced, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth
The Unquiet Landscape, Castlemaine Art Museum, Castlemaine
Hawaii International Film Festival, Honolulu us.
Universal Stories, Lake Macquarie City Gallery
Deceit and Other Possibilities, Galleria Marcolini, Fiorli
Queen's Land: Black Portraiture - 19th Century to the Present
2018
Earth/Sky, National Gallery of Australia
New Histories, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo
Spring 1883 Sarah Scout Presents Gallery, Melbourne
Colony: Frontier Wars, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Divided World, 2018 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art
2017
Sydney Art Fair, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney
2016
Why not ask again, 11th Shanghai Biennale
Spring 1883, Sarah Scout Presents Gallery, Melbourne
30 Years of CCP, curated by Naomi Cass, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
Screen as a Room, curated by Nikki Lam, Newport Substation, Melbourne
Light Moves: Contemporary Australian Video Art, National Gallery of Australia, Travelling Exhibition
Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge,
MA, USA
Australian exotica, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
The 16th Bedroom, The Hospital Club, London, UK
2015
Christian Thompson, Bidjara People, The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
(APT8), Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
Christian Thompson in The National Self Portrait Prize, University of Queensland Australia, Brisbane
WALLPOWER: Significant Contemporary Australian Photography & Photomedia, Michael Reid, Sydney
2014
Seventh Skin, curated by Claire Watson, Hatch Contemporary Arts Space, Melbourne
The Other and Me, The Sharjah Museum, United Arab Emirates
Magdalen Arts Week (with Sunil Gupta), Magdalen College, Oxford, UK
Dong Gang International Photo Festival, Dong Gang Museum of Photography in Yeongwol-gun,
Gangwon-do Province, Taiwan
Art as a Verb, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
PULSE: Reflections on the body, Canberra Museum and Art Gallery, Canberra
2013
Perennials: Selected USQ Alumni–The First Forty Years, curated by Alumna Bianca Acimovic,
Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba, QLD
Shadowlife, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo
2012
The Anne Landa Award, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Contemporary Indigenous Art in Australia: the Sordello Missana Collection, Valencian Institute of
Modern Art, Valencia, Spain
Sonic Spheres, TarraWarra Biennial 2012, curated by Victoria Lynn, TarraWarra Museum of Art,
Yarra Glen, Victoria
Hijacked III – Australia/UK, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth
Hijacked III – Australia/UK, Quad Gallery & The Silk Mill, Derby, UK
Hijacked III – Australia/UK, Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane
Hijacked III – Australia/UK, The Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
The Anne Landa Award, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
Crossing Cultures, The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art at the Hood Museum of Art, New Hampshere
United States of America
UnDisclosed 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Contemporary Indigenous Art in Australia: the Sordello Missana Collection, Valencian Institute of Modern Art, Valencia, Spain
Hijacked III, QUOD Gallery, Derby, United Kingdom
Shadow Life, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand
Tell Me Tell Me: Australian and Korean Art 1976 -2011, National Museum of Korean Art, Seoul, South Korea
Double Vision, McLelland Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2011
Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years, Plugin Institue of Contemporary Art, Canada
Tell Me Tell Me, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
POWERHOUSE, Osney Power Station, Oxford, United Kingdom
SOLO, Modern Art Oxford, United Kingdom
Freedom Riders: Art and Activism 1960s to Now, University Art Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Beauty, Vanity and Narcissism, Three Aboriginal Male Artist Photographers, Cross Art Projects, Sydney, Australia
Change Has Come, UTS Tower Foyer, University of Technology, Sydney
2010
The Beauty of Distance/Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age – 17th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Before and After Science-2010 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
2009
Culture Warriors – National Indigenous Art Triennial, American University, Washington D C, United States of America
Hybrid Arts Fest Australia, Radialsystem V, Berlin, Germany
Me-Take, Indigenous Self-representation in Photomedia, Perth Centre for Contemporary Photography, Perth, Australia.
Family Guy, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, New South Wales, Australia
Half-Light: Portraits from Black Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
2008
RAKA Kate Challis RAKA Award 2008: Contemporary Indigenous Visual Arts, Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, Australia (Highly Commended Category)
2007
Schittering-Brilliance, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Andy and OZ: Parallel Visions, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, United States of America
Culture Warriors – National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Working Down Under, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Eye to I, Ballarat Regional Art Gallery, Ballarat, Australia
Raised by Wolves, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
2006
Terra Incognita, Gertrude Street Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia
2004
Skin, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Australia
Matter of Time, Tamworth Textile Biennale, Tamworth, Australia
Spirit and Vision, Kunst der Gegenwart Sammlung Essl, Vienna, Austria
IMAGE - Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht,The Netherlands
The Space Between, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Art Paris, The Louvre, Paris, France
MAAP Gravity, Multimedia Arts Asia Pacific, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore
Sguardi Australiani, Camogli, Italy
2003
Drama is Conflict, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia
Tactility 200 Years of Indigenous Textiles, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
TRAFFIC, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia
2002
Crossing (New Australian Art), ATSKI Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
2001
LUMO Intohimo, Photographic Triennial of Finland, Helsinki, Finland
2000
Biennale d’Art Contemporain, Biennale De Noumea of Contemporary Art, New Caledonia
COLLECTIONS
Trinity College, Oxford, United Kingdom
Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Artbank, Sydney, Australia
Peter Klein Collection, Eberdingen, Germany
Latrobe Regional Gallery, Morwell, Australia
Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Australia
Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Horsham, Australia
Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill, Australia
Myer Collection, Melbourne, Australia
Wagner-Owen Collection, North Carolina, United States of America
City of Melbourne Collection, Melbourne, Australia
Trigboff Collection, Sydney, Australia
NelRon Collection, Melbourne, Australia
Pat Corrigan Collections, Sydney, Australia.
Deloitte Collection, Sydney, Australia.
Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton Collection, Sydney, Australia.
Christ Church Grammar School, Perth, Australia
University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia
Private Collections
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2018
Equinox, exhibition essay, Professor Ian McLean
Becoming the Other - A Self Guide, Aether Gallerie for Soft Power Palace, Stuttgart
Christian Thompson, Wrong Wrong, Portugal
Forms of Enchantment: Writings on Art and Artists, Marina Warner, Thames & Hudson
2016
The Creators Project, ‘Christine Prescott Follows Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse and Frida Kahlo’, Christian Thompson
2012
Crossing Cultures, exhibition catalogue, edited by Stephen Gilchrist, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, University Press of New England, United States of America
Les Portraits, by Valerie Mettais, Editions Palette publishing.
Hijacked III, edited by L.Clements,M.McPherson and L.Robb, Big City Press
Undisclosed, catalogue Second National indigenous Art Triennal, edited by C.Lane and F Cubillo, NGA Publishing
2011
The Chronicle. ‘USQ Alumnus Goes Down in History’, 17th February 2011
2010
AUTO FOCUS, The Self-Portrait in Contemporary Photography by Susan Bright, Thames & Hudson
The Monthly, 'Artful Excess', by Julian Engberg, June 2010, N.o 57.
Realtime, 'Video art: performance, politics, vision' by Gail priest.
The Australian 'Indigenous Duo have a first for Oxford', by James Howe
Art Monthly, 'Beauty, Distance, Songs: Surviving the End of Enlightenment' by Ian Mclean, July, 2010.
Sydney Morning Herald, 'The Hunters Hill Collectors', SEPT 19, 2010.
BBC Oxford, 'Oxford University's Aboriginal Scholars' 22nd OCT, 2010.
No Dots Down Here 'Christian Thompson Goes to Oxford' Edition 2, June
The Times 'Australian Students Become the First' by Sophie Tedmanson, MAR 20, 2010.
The Australian, 'Charlie Perkins Opens Door to Oxford, MAR 17, 2010.
The Oxford Student, 'Indigenous Students Arrive at Oxford', by Erik Boman, OCT 2010
LOOK! Contemporary Australian Photography since 1980, by Anne Marsh
Macmillan Art Publishing
Before and After Science- 2010 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, exhibition catalogue, Art Gallery of South Australia
2009
Art & Australia,Vol 46 Winter 2009, Shifting Identities by Stephen Gilchrist, p616-p625
2008
‘Man: Depicting Contemporary Masculinity’, Penrith Regional Gallery & Lewers Bequest, exhibition catalogue, curator Luke Parker, N.S.W, Australia
2007
‘Schittering-Brilliance’, exhibition catalogue, Georges Petitjean (ed), Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
‘Andy and OZ: Parallel Visions’, exhibition catalogue, Deborah Hart Curator, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, United States of America
‘Culture Warriors – National Indigenous Art Triennial’, exhibition catalogue,Deborah Clark and Susan Jenkins editors, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
The Canberra Times, ‘After Andy – Pop art Down Under’ by Christine Wallace, October 27th, 2007
The West Australian, 24th February 2007, ‘Running with the Pack’ by Rick Spencer
2004
The Age, Monday August 7, p. 7 ’Age Review’, ’Evidence of Art’ by Kyla McFarlane
2003
Real Time, Dec02 – Jan 03 no 52, Digital Indigeneity, Christine Nichols
Arts Yarn Up, Summer 2002 – 2003, pg. 17
Melbourne Magazine, March 2003, Stripping Identity Bare by Lucinda Strahan
2002
The Age, Wednesday 20th March,2002, Fashion Sashays into Art byRobert Nelson
Gray Anne (ed) Australian Art in the National Gallery of Australia,NGA, Canberra
2001
ARTLINK - ‘Indigenous Art for the Twenty First Century’ Vol 20 #1
Art Monthly - ‘UseBy: Asia Pacific Artist Initiatives Project’ by
John Mateer, pg 19, Issue 135
AWARDS & PRIZES
2020
Finalist, Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Galery of Art, Melbourne
Finalist, National Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
2019
Research affiliate, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
2018
Awarded Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the visual arts as a sculptor, photographer, video and performance artist, and as a
role model for young Indigenous artists
2017
Recipient, inaugural Mordant Family VR Commission, ACMI
2016
Recipient, ACME Studio London Residency, Australian Council for the Arts
2015
Participant, Marina Abramović: In Residence, Kaldor Public Art Project
2014
Recipient, Wellington International Artist Residency, NZ
Featured artist, Melbourne Art Tram
2012
Adobe Honourable Mention, William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize
Finalist, The Anne Landa Award
2010
Charlie Perkins Scholarship for Post-Graduate Studies at University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
2007
RIPE Art & Australia/ANZ Private Bank Contemporary Art Award (Highly Commended)
2006
Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces Studio Artist 2006 - 2008
Centre Contemporary Photography, Kodak Summer Salon, Best Portrait for ‘In Search of the International Look’.
2005
Curatorial Internship at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Creative Fellow State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Visual Arts and Crafts Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
2004
New Media Arts Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
2003
City of Melbourne Arts and Culture Grant
Australia Council for the Arts, Emerging Artist Grant
2002
City of Melbourne Arts and Culture Grant, Melbourne, Australia
RESIDENCIES
2011
Greene Street Studio, New York, USA
Fonderie Darling Studio, Montreal, Canada.
2010
Blast Theory Collective, Blast Theory, Brighton, UK.
2009
Centre for Future Art Research, Arizona State University, Arizona, USA.
2008
Dasarts, Advanced Studies in performing Arts, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2005
RAWSPACE, Brisbane, Australia
2004
MAAP online Residency, Singapore
2003
Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada
2001
Project 304, Bangkok, Thailand
2000
Alchemy Master Class for Artists, Powerhouse, Brisbane, Australia
EXHIBITIONS, CURATORIAL
2007
No Fun Without You, Mahoney Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
2006
A lot of Love Goin Round, Project Space, Melbourne, Australia
2005
Contemporary Commonwealth 06, ACMI and National Gallery of Victoria - Curatorial Intern – Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia
2004
If You Only Knew, City Gallery, Melbourne
White Hot – New Art from Different Places, Hush Hush Gallery and City Lights, Melbourne, Australia
2003
High Tide – Contemporary Indigenous Photography, Linden Centre for
Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia
2002
What’s Love Got To Do With It? RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2000
Beyond the Pale, Adelaide Biennale of Contemporary Australian Art, Assistant to Curator, Adelaide, Australia.