Mestrom’s sculptural works investigate the politics of the body and the elusive nature of ‘value’ in artworld ecologies, particularly the way such values are gained and lost over time. Her art practice makes particular reference to the female form as a catalyst for exploring the ways in which art history and culture continue to specify values, which in reality are fluid and always evolving.
By bringing these contested ideologies out of the gallery and into the realm of civic space, Mestrom alter’s the terms on which artistic value is set. For this reason, her sculptural works critically incorporate the participatory potential of “play” as a means to question the physical and social consequences of urban design. Simultaneously, her works shift the “hands-off” convention of viewing art toward a more inclusive “hands-on” engagement with the work, subverting the museological conventions of Art by softening the assumed division between art and everyday life (Kaprow 1993).
The benefits of her large-scale playable-sculptures are clear: these intergenerational, playable works activate public spaces intellectually, imaginatively as well as physically. They engage the people traversing these spaces on two core levels – on the one hand as contemporary, site-responsive conceptual artworks, and on the other hand as interactive, intergenerational sites of play.
Studies 11 RMIT University, Masters in Public Art 08 RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, PhD, Fine Art 00 RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art (Hons)
Selected solo exhibitions and projects 21 Sullivan + Strumpf, Body as Verb 19 Sullivan + Strumpf, There is a Poem 18 McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Black Paintings 18 Gippsland Art Gallery, Victoria, CORRECTIONS 17 Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney, CORRECTIONS 17 Westbourne Grammar, Truganina, Vic, Loose Variables 16 RMIT Project Space, Melbourne, Leftovers 16 Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney, Leftovers 14 Monash University Museum of Art (Ian Potter Sculptural Court Commission), Melbourne: Weeping Women 14 Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, Black Paintings 13 LaTrobe Regional Gallery, The Internal Logic 13 West Space, Melbourne, The Internal Logic 12 Substation, Melbourne, New Fillings 12 Chalk Horse, Sydney, The Reclining Nude 11 Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, The Reclining Nude 10 Chalk Horse; Sydney, Shaker Peg 09 Chalk Horse, Sydney, Things Fall Down. Sometimes We Look Up. 08 RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne, Certain Sacrifices (PhD Examination exhibition) 07 Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, A history of space is the history of wars 07 Rm103, ARI, Auckland, New Zealand, Passing through 07 Dep-art-ment, ARI, Auckland, New Zealand, Slump 06 Spacement Gallery, Melbourne, A history of space is the history of wars 06 Counter Point Project Space, Hardware Lane, Melbourne, What keeps us this side of that dark line? 05 TCB Inc., Melbourne, A man’s name 04 Spacement Gallery, Melbourne, The Myth of a Political Vision 04 Conical, Melbourne, At the Foot of Justice 03 ClubsProject, Melbourne, Site of Critical Feedback 03 Spacement Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Site of Cultural Negotiation 00 First Site, RMIT Student Union Gallery, Melbourne, If These Walls Could Talk
Curated group exhibitions and collaborations 19 Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria, A World of One’s Own, curated by Tai Snaith 19 McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Victoria, Serial, Curated by Simon Lawrie 19 Verge Gallery, Sydney, Still Life, curated by Adam Stone 19 RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Melbourne Modern: European art and design at RMIT since 1945,Curated by Jane Eckett 18 Tarra Warra Museum of Art, Tarra Warra Biennale: From Will to Form, curated by Emily Cormack 18 McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Victoria, Another Dimension, curated by Simon Lawrie 17 Carriageworks, curated into Installation Contemporary section of Sydney Contemporary, curated by Chief Curator MCA Rachel Kent and Assistant Curator Megan Robson. 16 Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney: Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, curated by MCA Senior curator Natasha Bullock 16 Melbourne Public Art Biennial Lab, curated by Natalie King, Trade School (as part of The Mechanics Institute) 15 Shepparton Art Muesum, Shepparton: Sydney Myer Ceramic Award 14 Rosalyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney: Never Neverland 14 McClelland Sculpture Park, McClelland Sculpture Survey and Award, Melbourne 14 Margaret Lawrence Gallery, VCA Melbourne University, Assembly: Contemporary Ceramics, curated by Kay Abude 14 Platform Projects, I always read by listening to the text, curated by Martina Copley 13 Heidi Museum of Modern Art: Future Primitive; curated by Linda Michael 13 ACCA, Melbourne: NEW 13; curated by Charlotte Day 13 Chalk Horse gallery, Sydney: Bathysphere; curated by James Kerr 13 Art Space Hobart: Enucleo Contemporary Clay, curated by Serena Rosevear and Patrick Sutczak 13 Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton: Consequences; Curated by Anabelle Lacroix 12 Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne: Pretty Air & Useful Things; curated by Rosemary Forde 12 West Space, Melbourne: Ode to Form, curated by Kelly Fliedner 12 The Substation: Sub12, curated by Jessica Bridgfoot 12 Utopian Slumps, Melbourne: Form and Ground, curated by Jane O’Niell and Melissa Loughnan 12 First Draft, Sydney; On the Y-Axis: Considering Vertical Perspective, curated by Venita Publacki 11 Gertrude Contemporary: OCTOPUS 11:The Matter of Air ; curated by Jacqueline Doughty 11 Gertrude Contemporary; Melbourne: GERTRUDE STUDIOS 2011 11 Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney: Social Sculpture , curated by Charlotte Day 11 UTS Gallery, Sydney, Creative Accounting, curated by Holly Williams 10 Gertrude Contemporary; Melbourne: GERTRUDE STUDIOS 2010 10 Block Projects, Melbourne: Not Fair , curated by Ashley Crawford, Tony Lloyd, Sam Leach 10 West Space Melbourne & Chalk Horse Sydney: The Nothing , curated by Kelly Fliedner 10 KINGS ARI, Melbourne: A Quarter Turn on Every Screw , curated by Kel Glastier 10 West Space, Melbourne, Things I wish I’d known; A West Space Committee project 10 West Space Melbourne & Chalk Horse Sydney, The Nothing, curated by Kelly Fliedner 10 Gambia Castle, Auckland, Carry On Stow Away, curated by Kate Newby 10 Kings ARI, Melbourne, A quarter turn on every screw; curated by Kel Glaister and Tamsin Green 09 Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, curated by Olivia Polini 08 Linden Gallery, Melbourne, An ideal for living, curated by Simon Gregg 08 Rembrandts: Nine Installations, public art and urban architecture project, coordinated by Simon Whibley (RMIT Architecture, Urban Architecture Laboratory) 07 Gippsland Regional Gallery, Sale, Victoria, Life is Sweet: Contemporary Australian Watercolour, Curated by Bryony Nainby 07 Munster, Germany, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (with Kate Newby) 06 Siemens Scholarship exhibition, RMIT Storey Hall, Melbourne, (Recipient of Siemens Fine Art Award) 06 Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Regional Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia 06 Portrait of Salote, curated by Salote Twale, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 06 Text Me, Spacement Gallery, curated by Glen Walls 06 Selekta, WestSpace, Melbourne, Australia 05 “I’m travellin’ light’, curated by Deborah Ostrow, Spacement Gallery, Melbourne 05 One anothers other world, Curated by Peter Westwood, Alliance Francaise, St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia 04 The Time Image, Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, Curated by Phe Rawnsly, Melbourne, Australia 04 Sensoria, Conical, Fitzroy, Melbourne (part of the Sensoria Conference, hosted by RMIT) 04 Multiple Miscellaneous Alliances, CLUBSProject, curated by Bianca Hester, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia 04 The Conceptual Reconstruction of Brunswick, Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, Curated by Alex Daglish, Melbourne 02 Trope, Honours graduate exhibition, Bus Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 02 My Blues Book, curated and self-published by Kate Newby, Starkwhite, Auckland, New Zealand 02 Take it Away – (curated with Helen Johnson) Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Residencies 10-12 Studio Residency, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne 09 Artist Residency, SOMA, Mexico City 07 Shortlisted for the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam 01 Artist in residence, Sangmyong University, Seoul, South Korea
External Grants / Funding / Major Commissions 22 Lake MacQuarrie Commission, MAP (current) 22 Geelong City Council Commission (current) 18 Australia Council New Work Grant 17 Winner, Woollarah Small Sculpture Prize 17 Public Art Commission, Westbourne Grammar, Truganina, Vic, Loose Variables 14 Monash University Museum of Art Ian Potter Sculpture Commission for New Public Art 14 Australia Council for the Arts 14 Arts Victoria; New Work Grant 14 Federation University Research Grant 13 Brae Public Art Commission for New Work, the Otways, Victoria 13 City of Melbourne; New Works Grant 13 Australian Centre for Contemporary Art: Commission for NEW13 12 Arts Victoria; Creation Grant 12 Monash University; Creative Works Grant 12 Monash University; Education Grant 12 Monash University; Special Project Funding Grant 10 Chartwell Trust Independent Funding, New Zealand 09 Arts Victoria; Creation Grant 07 Arts Victoria; International Grant 07 Arts Victoria; Creation Grant 07 NAVA Janet Holmes Artist Grant
Prizes 15 Shortlisted, Sydney Myer Ceramic Award, Shepparton Art Museum 13 Winner, Credit Suisse / Art & Australia Emerging Artist Award for 2013/14 11 Winner, John Fries Memorial Prize, Sydney 11 Shortlisted, Maddocks Art Prize 10 Shortlisted, Georges Mora Foundation Fellow Arts Victoria Creation (Visual Arts) Grant 08 Winner, Siemens Post Graduate Fine Art Scholarship Award 06 Shortlisted, Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Regional Gallery
Academic/Research Awards 22 Australia Research Council, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 14 Academic Promotion to Senior Lecturer, Level C 13 Awarded Faculty of Art Design & Architecture Early Career Researcher Award, Monash University 13 Nominated for Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research by an Early Career Researcher 13 Selected as a mentee for the 2013 Mentoring Scheme for Women, Monash University 06 Siemens Post Graduate Fine Art Scholarship Award, RMIT University (for PhD Research) 05 Australian Federation of University Women, Daphne Elliot Research Award (for PhD Research) 04 Australian Post Graduate Award (for PhD Research)
Bibliography/Reviews Abude, Kay. ‘Assembly: contemporary ceramics’, exh. cat. for Assembly: Contemporary Ceramics, May 2014 Backhouse, Megan. ‘The Journey: Under construction’, The Age, 6 February 2002 Bartlem, Edwina. ‘The Time Image’, exhibition review, Un Magazine, Issue 4, page 32, 2005 Blackman, Clemintine. ‘Shaker Peg’, exhibition review fro Shaker Peg, Chalk Horse Gallery, 2010 Boyce, Elizabeth. ‘Miscellaneous documents Interview project’, May – July 2004 in conjunction with multipleMISCELLANEOUSalliances (mMa) Edited transcript of a conversation between Mestrom and Boyce regarding participation in mMa Chapman, T. (2018, August 18). Wild and free. The Australian Financial Review. STAY OF THE ART. (2022, January). Haven, 24. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A736852974/ITOF?u=usyd&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=42905759 Cross, David. ‘Unfettered actions: Sportification, playgrounds and public art’, Artlink, Vol. 41, No. 2, Aug 2021: 96-103 Coates, Rebecca. ‘Of Mice and Men’, exh. cat. July 2007 Clements, Sally P. ‘The time axis: a stretch between two weeks of sunshine’, exh. cat., September 2007 Cormack, Emily.‘From Will to Form’. Cat. exh. Tarra Warra Biennial, 2018 Crawford, Ashley. ‘Un/Discovered Artists.’ The Australian Art Collector, April 2005 Dawson, Bradley. ‘Yesterdays News’, White Ant (political activist publication), March 03 Dwyer, Brendan. ‘Black Paintings’, 2018 Edge, Jacqueline. ‘the shift from medium specificity’, 2018 Eskly, Linda. ‘Bureaucrats One, Art Nil’, The Metro News, 3 May 2000 Forde, Rosemary. ‘Ancient Medium Contemporary Forms’, Art Review, July 2012 Geczy, Adam. ‘Body as Verb’, exhibition review, May 2021 Gregg, Simon. ‘An Ideal for living’, catalogue essay, 2008 Glaister, Kel, A quarter turn on every screw. exh. cat. 2010 Fliedner, K. (2009). Things fall down: Sometimes we look up. Runway, (14), 74–75. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.052779965609943 Irwin, Alana. ‘Object Sanné Mestrom: Body is a banquet’ Vault Issue 38, May 2022, pp. 139 – 140 Judd, Rachel. ‘Taken Away’, Interview on 3CR Independent Radio, 01 March 2002 McFarlane, Kyla. ‘A history of space is the history of wars’, exh. cat, September 2006 Miller, T. (2015). The Myth of a Political Vision: Sanné Mestrom. EMAJ : Electronic Melbourne Art Journal, 1. https://doi.org/10.38030/EMAJ.2005.1.9 Morrow, Christine. ‘Text Me’, exhibition review, Eyeline: Contemporary Visual Arts, Issue 61, Spring 2006, p.52-53 Morrow, Christine. ‘A man’s name’, exhibition review, Un Magazine, Issue 7, p23, 2006 Murray, Kevin.. ‘Ceramics is dead, long live ceramics’, exh. cat. for Assembly: Contemporary Ceramics, May 2014 Nainby, Bryony. ‘Life is Sweet’, exh. cat for Contemporary Australian Watercolours, Gippsland Regional Gallery, Sale, 2007 Pawlikowski, Kasia , ‘An appearance, uncertain’, exh. cat. for The Nothing, West Space, 2010 Parkinson, Jaenine. ‘In-between’, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, gallery essay, Wellington, 2007 Rann, Kirsten. ‘What keeps us this side of that dark line?’, exhibition essay for Counterpoint 2006 Rann, Kirsten. ‘Will judgement hurt when it falls on you?’, exh. cat., Sept 2004 Redman, Susan. ‘Art House’, Sunday Life Magazine, The Sydney Morning Herald, April 7, 2024 Shaw, Kate. ‘Drawing blood from a stone’, exh.cat. 2006 Slade, Lisa. exh. cat for Know My Name, National Gallery Australia, 2021 Smith, Talia. exh. cat for ‘I will tell you my story‘, UTS Gallery 8 February — 1 April 2022 Starr, Bala. ‘I’m travellin light’, exh. cat, 2005 Turnbull, Meredith. ‘Out of the Fry Pan, Into the Fire’, exh. cat. for Things Fall Down, Sometimes We Look Up, 2009 Watts, Oliver. ‘Black Paintings’, 2014 Watts, Oliver. ‘There is a Poem’, exh. cat., 2019 Webb, Penny. ‘A year in review: Many hands make light work of tough matter / some of the years most interesting work’, The Age 20/12/06, p.16 Whibley, Simon. and McInneny, Anthony. ‘Rembrandt’s: 9 Installations’, exh. cat, 2008 Webb, Penny. ‘Intimate Survey’ (From ‘I’m travelin’ light, Spacement), Sightlines Critical Guide, The Age 9/12/05, p.17 Westwood, Peter. ‘One Anothers Otherworld’ (Alliance Francaise), exh. cat. October 2005 Yee, Hannah Rose. ‘Show of Strength’, Vogue Australia, July 2024 (p.62-63) Yip, Andrew. ‘Risky Play’, AGNSW Look Magazine, April 2023 The Art Show, Channel 31, with Helen Johnson, 28 Feb 2002 (‘Take It Away’) Melbourne Art Fair 2024
Show of strength. (2024, July). Vogue Australia, 62. Stay of the art. (2022, January). Haven, 24. University of Sydney: Sanne Mestrom’s Sculptures Invite Play. (2022). In Targeted News Service. Washington, D.C: Targeted News Service. Mestrom, S., & Odlum, N. (2024, July 11). Play beyond playgrounds: Rethinking the role of public art in urban play [Research report]. University of Sydney. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32777 Holsgens, S., & Ong, A. (Eds.). (2025). Skate/worlds. University of Groningen Press. https://doi.org/10.21827/656f071868dee New Acquisitions. (2020). In Artonview (pp. 8-). Canberra: National Gallery of Australia.
Catalogue
What keeps us this side of that dark line? Paperback, 1800mm x 2500mm ISBN 978-0-646-47797-8
ABOUT
Mestrom’s sculptural works investigate the politics of the body and the elusive nature of ‘value’ in artworld ecologies, particularly the way such values are gained and lost over time. Her art practice makes particular reference to the female form as a catalyst for exploring the ways in which art history and culture continue to specify values, which in reality are fluid and always evolving.
By bringing these contested ideologies out of the gallery and into the realm of civic space, Mestrom alter’s the terms on which artistic value is set. For this reason, her sculptural works critically incorporate the participatory potential of “play” as a means to question the physical and social consequences of urban design. Simultaneously, her works shift the “hands-off” convention of viewing art toward a more inclusive “hands-on” engagement with the work, subverting the museological conventions of Art by softening the assumed division between art and everyday life (Kaprow 1993).
The benefits of her large-scale playable-sculptures are clear: these intergenerational, playable works activate public spaces intellectually, imaginatively as well as physically. They engage the people traversing these spaces on two core levels – on the one hand as contemporary, site-responsive conceptual artworks, and on the other hand as interactive, intergenerational sites of play.
Selected Curriculum Vitae
Sanné Mestrom
Represented by Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney
Lectures at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
Australian Research Council Fellow ART/PLAY/RISK
Studies
11 RMIT University, Masters in Public Art
08 RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, PhD, Fine Art
00 RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art (Hons)
Selected solo exhibitions and projects
21 Sullivan + Strumpf, Body as Verb
19 Sullivan + Strumpf, There is a Poem
18 McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Black Paintings
18 Gippsland Art Gallery, Victoria, CORRECTIONS
17 Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney, CORRECTIONS
17 Westbourne Grammar, Truganina, Vic, Loose Variables
16 RMIT Project Space, Melbourne, Leftovers
16 Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney, Leftovers
14 Monash University Museum of Art (Ian Potter Sculptural Court Commission), Melbourne: Weeping Women
14 Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, Black Paintings
13 LaTrobe Regional Gallery, The Internal Logic
13 West Space, Melbourne, The Internal Logic
12 Substation, Melbourne, New Fillings
12 Chalk Horse, Sydney, The Reclining Nude
11 Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, The Reclining Nude
10 Chalk Horse; Sydney, Shaker Peg
09 Chalk Horse, Sydney, Things Fall Down. Sometimes We Look Up.
08 RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne, Certain Sacrifices (PhD Examination exhibition)
07 Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, A history of space is the history of wars
07 Rm103, ARI, Auckland, New Zealand, Passing through
07 Dep-art-ment, ARI, Auckland, New Zealand, Slump
06 Spacement Gallery, Melbourne, A history of space is the history of wars
06 Counter Point Project Space, Hardware Lane, Melbourne, What keeps us this side of that dark line?
05 TCB Inc., Melbourne, A man’s name
04 Spacement Gallery, Melbourne, The Myth of a Political Vision
04 Conical, Melbourne, At the Foot of Justice
03 ClubsProject, Melbourne, Site of Critical Feedback
03 Spacement Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Site of Cultural Negotiation
00 First Site, RMIT Student Union Gallery, Melbourne, If These Walls Could Talk
Curated group exhibitions and collaborations
19 Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria, A World of One’s Own, curated by Tai Snaith
19 McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Victoria, Serial, Curated by Simon Lawrie
19 Verge Gallery, Sydney, Still Life, curated by Adam Stone
19 RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Melbourne Modern: European art and design at RMIT since 1945,Curated by Jane Eckett
18 Tarra Warra Museum of Art, Tarra Warra Biennale: From Will to Form, curated by Emily Cormack
18 McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Victoria, Another Dimension, curated by Simon Lawrie
17 Carriageworks, curated into Installation Contemporary section of Sydney Contemporary, curated by Chief Curator MCA Rachel Kent and Assistant Curator Megan Robson.
16 Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney: Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, curated by MCA Senior curator Natasha Bullock
16 Melbourne Public Art Biennial Lab, curated by Natalie King, Trade School (as part of The Mechanics Institute)
15 Shepparton Art Muesum, Shepparton: Sydney Myer Ceramic Award
14 Rosalyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney: Never Neverland
14 McClelland Sculpture Park, McClelland Sculpture Survey and Award, Melbourne
14 Margaret Lawrence Gallery, VCA Melbourne University, Assembly: Contemporary Ceramics, curated by Kay Abude
14 Platform Projects, I always read by listening to the text, curated by Martina Copley
13 Heidi Museum of Modern Art: Future Primitive; curated by Linda Michael
13 ACCA, Melbourne: NEW 13; curated by Charlotte Day
13 Chalk Horse gallery, Sydney: Bathysphere; curated by James Kerr
13 Art Space Hobart: Enucleo Contemporary Clay, curated by Serena Rosevear and Patrick Sutczak
13 Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton: Consequences; Curated by Anabelle Lacroix
12 Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne: Pretty Air & Useful Things; curated by Rosemary Forde
12 West Space, Melbourne: Ode to Form, curated by Kelly Fliedner
12 The Substation: Sub12, curated by Jessica Bridgfoot
12 Utopian Slumps, Melbourne: Form and Ground, curated by Jane O’Niell and Melissa Loughnan
12 First Draft, Sydney; On the Y-Axis: Considering Vertical Perspective, curated by Venita Publacki
11 Gertrude Contemporary: OCTOPUS 11:The Matter of Air ; curated by Jacqueline Doughty
11 Gertrude Contemporary; Melbourne: GERTRUDE STUDIOS 2011
11 Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney: Social Sculpture , curated by Charlotte Day
11 UTS Gallery, Sydney, Creative Accounting, curated by Holly Williams
10 Gertrude Contemporary; Melbourne: GERTRUDE STUDIOS 2010
10 Block Projects, Melbourne: Not Fair , curated by Ashley Crawford, Tony Lloyd, Sam Leach
10 West Space Melbourne & Chalk Horse Sydney: The Nothing , curated by Kelly Fliedner
10 KINGS ARI, Melbourne: A Quarter Turn on Every Screw , curated by Kel Glastier
10 West Space, Melbourne, Things I wish I’d known; A West Space Committee project
10 West Space Melbourne & Chalk Horse Sydney, The Nothing, curated by Kelly Fliedner
10 Gambia Castle, Auckland, Carry On Stow Away, curated by Kate Newby
10 Kings ARI, Melbourne, A quarter turn on every screw; curated by Kel Glaister and Tamsin Green
09 Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, curated by Olivia Polini
08 Linden Gallery, Melbourne, An ideal for living, curated by Simon Gregg
08 Rembrandts: Nine Installations, public art and urban architecture project, coordinated by Simon Whibley (RMIT Architecture, Urban Architecture Laboratory)
07 Gippsland Regional Gallery, Sale, Victoria, Life is Sweet: Contemporary Australian Watercolour, Curated by Bryony Nainby
07 Munster, Germany, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (with Kate Newby)
06 Siemens Scholarship exhibition, RMIT Storey Hall, Melbourne, (Recipient of Siemens Fine Art Award)
06 Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Regional Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
06 Portrait of Salote, curated by Salote Twale, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
06 Text Me, Spacement Gallery, curated by Glen Walls
06 Selekta, WestSpace, Melbourne, Australia
05 “I’m travellin’ light’, curated by Deborah Ostrow, Spacement Gallery, Melbourne
05 One anothers other world, Curated by Peter Westwood, Alliance Francaise, St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia
04 The Time Image, Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, Curated by Phe Rawnsly, Melbourne, Australia
04 Sensoria, Conical, Fitzroy, Melbourne (part of the Sensoria Conference, hosted by RMIT)
04 Multiple Miscellaneous Alliances, CLUBSProject, curated by Bianca Hester, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
04 The Conceptual Reconstruction of Brunswick, Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, Curated by Alex Daglish, Melbourne
02 Trope, Honours graduate exhibition, Bus Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
02 My Blues Book, curated and self-published by Kate Newby, Starkwhite, Auckland, New Zealand
02 Take it Away – (curated with Helen Johnson) Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Residencies
10-12 Studio Residency, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne
09 Artist Residency, SOMA, Mexico City
07 Shortlisted for the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
01 Artist in residence, Sangmyong University, Seoul, South Korea
External Grants / Funding / Major Commissions
22 Lake MacQuarrie Commission, MAP (current)
22 Geelong City Council Commission (current)
18 Australia Council New Work Grant
17 Winner, Woollarah Small Sculpture Prize
17 Public Art Commission, Westbourne Grammar, Truganina, Vic, Loose Variables
14 Monash University Museum of Art Ian Potter Sculpture Commission for New Public Art
14 Australia Council for the Arts
14 Arts Victoria; New Work Grant
14 Federation University Research Grant
13 Brae Public Art Commission for New Work, the Otways, Victoria
13 City of Melbourne; New Works Grant
13 Australian Centre for Contemporary Art: Commission for NEW13
12 Arts Victoria; Creation Grant
12 Monash University; Creative Works Grant
12 Monash University; Education Grant
12 Monash University; Special Project Funding Grant
10 Chartwell Trust Independent Funding, New Zealand
09 Arts Victoria; Creation Grant
07 Arts Victoria; International Grant
07 Arts Victoria; Creation Grant 07 NAVA Janet Holmes Artist Grant
Prizes
15 Shortlisted, Sydney Myer Ceramic Award, Shepparton Art Museum
13 Winner, Credit Suisse / Art & Australia Emerging Artist Award for 2013/14
11 Winner, John Fries Memorial Prize, Sydney
11 Shortlisted, Maddocks Art Prize
10 Shortlisted, Georges Mora Foundation Fellow Arts Victoria Creation (Visual Arts) Grant
08 Winner, Siemens Post Graduate Fine Art Scholarship Award
06 Shortlisted, Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Regional Gallery
Academic/Research Awards
22 Australia Research Council, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
14 Academic Promotion to Senior Lecturer, Level C
13 Awarded Faculty of Art Design & Architecture Early Career Researcher Award, Monash University
13 Nominated for Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research by an Early Career Researcher
13 Selected as a mentee for the 2013 Mentoring Scheme for Women, Monash University
06 Siemens Post Graduate Fine Art Scholarship Award, RMIT University (for PhD Research)
05 Australian Federation of University Women, Daphne Elliot Research Award (for PhD Research)
04 Australian Post Graduate Award (for PhD Research)
Bibliography/Reviews
Abude, Kay. ‘Assembly: contemporary ceramics’, exh. cat. for Assembly: Contemporary Ceramics, May 2014
Backhouse, Megan. ‘The Journey: Under construction’, The Age, 6 February 2002
Bartlem, Edwina. ‘The Time Image’, exhibition review, Un Magazine, Issue 4, page 32, 2005
Blackman, Clemintine. ‘Shaker Peg’, exhibition review fro Shaker Peg, Chalk Horse Gallery, 2010
Boyce, Elizabeth. ‘Miscellaneous documents Interview project’, May – July 2004 in conjunction with multipleMISCELLANEOUSalliances (mMa) Edited transcript of a conversation between Mestrom and Boyce regarding participation in mMa
Chapman, T. (2018, August 18). Wild and free. The Australian Financial Review.
STAY OF THE ART. (2022, January). Haven, 24. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A736852974/ITOF?u=usyd&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=42905759
Cross, David. ‘Unfettered actions: Sportification, playgrounds and public art’, Artlink, Vol. 41, No. 2, Aug 2021: 96-103
Coates, Rebecca. ‘Of Mice and Men’, exh. cat. July 2007
Clements, Sally P. ‘The time axis: a stretch between two weeks of sunshine’, exh. cat., September 2007
Cormack, Emily.‘From Will to Form’. Cat. exh. Tarra Warra Biennial, 2018
Crawford, Ashley. ‘Un/Discovered Artists.’ The Australian Art Collector, April 2005
Dawson, Bradley. ‘Yesterdays News’, White Ant (political activist publication), March 03
Dwyer, Brendan. ‘Black Paintings’, 2018
Edge, Jacqueline. ‘the shift from medium specificity’, 2018
Eskly, Linda. ‘Bureaucrats One, Art Nil’, The Metro News, 3 May 2000
Forde, Rosemary. ‘Ancient Medium Contemporary Forms’, Art Review, July 2012
Geczy, Adam. ‘Body as Verb’, exhibition review, May 2021
Gregg, Simon. ‘An Ideal for living’, catalogue essay, 2008
Glaister, Kel, A quarter turn on every screw. exh. cat. 2010
Fliedner, K. (2009). Things fall down: Sometimes we look up. Runway, (14), 74–75. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.052779965609943
Irwin, Alana. ‘Object Sanné Mestrom: Body is a banquet’ Vault Issue 38, May 2022, pp. 139 – 140
Judd, Rachel. ‘Taken Away’, Interview on 3CR Independent Radio, 01 March 2002
McFarlane, Kyla. ‘A history of space is the history of wars’, exh. cat, September 2006
Miller, T. (2015). The Myth of a Political Vision: Sanné Mestrom. EMAJ : Electronic Melbourne Art Journal, 1. https://doi.org/10.38030/EMAJ.2005.1.9
Morrow, Christine. ‘Text Me’, exhibition review, Eyeline: Contemporary Visual Arts, Issue 61, Spring 2006, p.52-53
Morrow, Christine. ‘A man’s name’, exhibition review, Un Magazine, Issue 7, p23, 2006
Murray, Kevin.. ‘Ceramics is dead, long live ceramics’, exh. cat. for Assembly: Contemporary Ceramics, May 2014
Nainby, Bryony. ‘Life is Sweet’, exh. cat for Contemporary Australian Watercolours, Gippsland Regional Gallery, Sale, 2007
Pawlikowski, Kasia , ‘An appearance, uncertain’, exh. cat. for The Nothing, West Space, 2010
Parkinson, Jaenine. ‘In-between’, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, gallery essay, Wellington, 2007
Rann, Kirsten. ‘What keeps us this side of that dark line?’, exhibition essay for Counterpoint 2006
Rann, Kirsten. ‘Will judgement hurt when it falls on you?’, exh. cat., Sept 2004
Redman, Susan. ‘Art House’, Sunday Life Magazine, The Sydney Morning Herald, April 7, 2024
Shaw, Kate. ‘Drawing blood from a stone’, exh.cat. 2006
Slade, Lisa. exh. cat for Know My Name, National Gallery Australia, 2021
Smith, Talia. exh. cat for ‘I will tell you my story‘, UTS Gallery 8 February — 1 April 2022
Starr, Bala. ‘I’m travellin light’, exh. cat, 2005
Turnbull, Meredith. ‘Out of the Fry Pan, Into the Fire’, exh. cat. for Things Fall Down, Sometimes We Look Up, 2009
Watts, Oliver. ‘Black Paintings’, 2014
Watts, Oliver. ‘There is a Poem’, exh. cat., 2019
Webb, Penny. ‘A year in review: Many hands make light work of tough matter / some of the years most interesting work’, The Age 20/12/06, p.16
Whibley, Simon. and McInneny, Anthony. ‘Rembrandt’s: 9 Installations’, exh. cat, 2008
Webb, Penny. ‘Intimate Survey’ (From ‘I’m travelin’ light, Spacement), Sightlines Critical Guide, The Age 9/12/05, p.17
Westwood, Peter. ‘One Anothers Otherworld’ (Alliance Francaise), exh. cat. October 2005
Yee, Hannah Rose. ‘Show of Strength’, Vogue Australia, July 2024 (p.62-63)
Yip, Andrew. ‘Risky Play’, AGNSW Look Magazine, April 2023
The Art Show, Channel 31, with Helen Johnson, 28 Feb 2002 (‘Take It Away’)
Melbourne Art Fair 2024
Show of strength. (2024, July). Vogue Australia, 62.
Stay of the art. (2022, January). Haven, 24.
University of Sydney: Sanne Mestrom’s Sculptures Invite Play. (2022). In Targeted News Service. Washington, D.C: Targeted News Service.
Mestrom, S., & Odlum, N. (2024, July 11). Play beyond playgrounds: Rethinking the role of public art in urban play [Research report]. University of Sydney. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32777
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Catalogue
What keeps us this side of that dark line?
Paperback, 1800mm x 2500mm
ISBN 978-0-646-47797-8