Bio

Murray Kirkland has participated in over thirty group exhibitions since 1990, and has held over a dozen solo exhibitions since 1993. In 1994, while studying at the Canberra School of Art, Murray began to examine issues around the perception of history, utilizing the Great War as a departure point for research and expression. Issues addressed in these bodies of work include; the difficulty of conveying an experience to an audience that has not witnessed or endured the same experience themselves, personal accounts as opposed to big picture histories, loss of identity, mythologizing and landscape as witness. This exploration is continuing however, given its often disturbing nature, he has interspersed this work with exhibitions dealing with other themes. Inspiration for these other bodies of work come from a diverse range of sources including his childhood in the country, flying dreams, natural history, science fiction, clouds and landscape.

The artist’s most notable successes have been achieved with his war-related work. After an exhibition at the library at the Australian Defence Force Academy in 2006 titled ‘Passchendaele: Beyond Imagination’ Murray was offered the opportunity to show the same body of work at the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 in Zonnebeke, Belgium as part of the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele. While in Belgium Murray undertook two residencies, the first at the atelier of master printer Rudolf Broulim, and the second at the Frans Masereel Centre in Kasterlee in northern Belgium.

Murray produced a folio of lithographs, etchings and an edition of artist’s books during these residencies. This work, along with new work produced in response to his time in Belgium, was exhibited at the library of the Australian Defence Force Academy in 2009 under the title  ‘Des Souvenirs 1914 – 1918’.

In 2011 Murray won a Staff Research Fellowship at the National Film and Sound Archive where he has been employed since 2004. Through this research he gained an understanding of attitudes and ideals held by Australian society during the Great War. The Artist’s Journal created during this fellowship will provide the basis for visual expression and the possibility of an exhibition in the future.

Murray works in a range of media including found objects, assemblages, printmaking and painting. His work has been exhibited at a number of national institutions in Australia, the USA, New Zealand and Europe.

The National Gallery of Australia and the Australian War Memorial hold several of Murray’s artworks. His work is also held in collections in Belgium and in private collections in Australia and overseas.

ARTIST CV

PLACE OF BIRTH

1962 Warren, NSW Australia

 

EDUCATION

1986 Bachelor of Arts – script writing, Canberra College of Advanced Education
1996 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) – Graphic Investigation Workshop, Canberra Institute of the Arts
2003 Certificate IV Museum Practice, Canberra Institute of Technology

 

ASSOCIATIONS

Canberra Contemporary Artspace
Megalo Print Studio and Gallery

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013 Attack of the Fifty Foot Movie Poster, Kiora Gallery, Hobart Place Acton ACT
2010 Memories of The Great War. Australian Defence Force Academy Library, Duntroon ACT
2009 Des Souvenirs 1914 – 1918. Australian Defence Force Academy Library, Duntroon ACT
2008 Clouds and flying dreams Rarified Gallery, Dickson ACT
2008 Identity/Anonymity (large edition)The British Grenadier Bookshop, Ypres, Belgium
2007 Passchendaele 1917, Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917, Zonnebeke, Belgium
2006 Identity/Anonymity (Large edition) Tyne Cot Cemetery Visitors’ Centre, Flanders, Belgium
2006 Passchendaele: Beyond Imagination, Australian Defence Force Academy Library, Duntroon ACT
2003-4 Homeless; Homemade soft toy installation, Health Pact London Circuit, Civic ACT
2003 Homeless; Homemade soft toy installation, This is not a telephone booth gallery, Gorman House, Braddon ACT
2003 The Big Backyard; Assemblages + found objects inspired by a childhood in the country, Australian National Capital Artists Inc, Dickson ACT
2001 Head Full of Clouds, Pinki’s Café, Braddon ACT
1998 Behind Every Number, Chief of Staff’s Annual Army History Conference, National Convention Centre, Canberra ACT
1996 Dust Recalling War; Australian National Capital Artists Inc, Dickson ACT
1993 A Desert Rhapsody, PhotoAccess, Acton ACT

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2014 ANZAC Voices, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
2013 100% Books by Canberra Artists, Watson Arts Centre, Watson ACT
2013 Linden Postcard show, Linden centre for Contemporary Art, St Kilda, Melbourne
2011 Lakeside, Tuggeranong Artspace, Tuggeranong ACT
2009 Linden Postcard show, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, St Kilda, Melbourne
2008 Linden Postcard show, Linden centre for Contemporary Art, St Kilda, Melbourne
2008 Gallipoli Art Prize, exhibition of finalists, Gallipoli Club, Circular Quay, Sydney
2007 Marche du Livre de Mariemont, Charleroi, Belgium
2004 Shaping Memory, Australian War Memorial Canberra ACT
2004 Cromwell’s Art Prize, exhibition of short listed work, Pyrmont Sydney NSW
2003 Contemporary Art Exhibition and Award, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Braddon ACT
2003 Tuggeranong Regional Arts Competition and Exhibition, Tuggeranong Arts Centre ACT
2003 Canberra Art Prize exhibition, Italo Australian Club, Forrest ACT
2003 Cootamundra Soroptimist Society Annual Exhibition, Cootamundra NSW
2003 Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka 10th Birthday Exhibition, Manuka ACT
2003 Here and Now, Words and Images from Brisbane Refugee Community, Brisbane City Hall
2002 On The Road Members Show, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Braddon ACT
2002 The A4 Refugee Project, Contemporary artists in support of refugees, Development Space Queensland State Library, Brisbane QLD
2002 Elvis is Alive and Living in Canberra, Contemporary Art Space, Manuka ACT
2001 Artist’s Book 3, Drill Hall Gallery, Acton ACT
1998 Cootamundra Soroptimist Society Annual Exhibition, Cootamundra NSW
1998 Dog’s Breakfast, Australian National Capital Artists Inc, Dickson ACT
1998 Tunnel of Love, members show, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Braddon ACT
1997 Artist Made Book Exchange, Touring – USA, Australia, New Zealand
1997 Casula Aquisitive Print Prize, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
1997 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Members Show, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Braddon ACT
1996 Casula Aquisitive Print Prize, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney NSW
1995/6 Artists’ Books and Fragile Objects, Musee de Beaux Arts Switzerland, Touring – Australian Embassy, Washington DC, National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT
1995 God Save The Queen, Members Show, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Braddon ACT
1995 Works in Progress, Foyer Gallery, Canberra Institute of The Arts, Acton ACT
1995 Ding Dang Don’t, Anti-Nuclear Testing Exhibition, Liechhardt Street Studios, Kingston ACT
1994 A Brush With The Bush, Members Show, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Braddon ACT
1994 Photo Access 10th Birthday Exhibition, Link Gallery, Canberra ACT
1992 Hamlet, Photospace, Canberra Institute of the Arts, Acton ACT
1991 Howitt St, How It Went, Photospace, Canberra Institute of The Arts, Acton ACT
1990 Fractal Moon Cow, Brindabella Arts Farm, Holt ACT

 

RESIDENCES

2011 Staff Research Fellowship, National Film and Sound Archive
2007 Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium
2007 Rudolf Broulim’s Atelier, Ekeren, Belgium
1998 Graduate in Residence, Graphic Investigation Workshop, Canberra Institute of The Arts

 

GRANTS

1997

Research Grant, Australian Army History Unit

 

COLLECTIONS

Australian National Gallery
Frans Masereel Centrum. Belgium
Australian War Memorial
Australian National University, Graphic Investigation Workshop Collection Menzies Library

University of New South Wales

James Hardie Art Archive, Queensland State Library
Bone Marrow Donor Institute, Parkville, Victoria
Private collections Australia and Europe

 

PUBLICATIONS

1991

Kunstwerk#4, Canberra Institute of the Arts Comic magazine

1988

Redoubt#7, University of Canberra Literary Magazine

1982

Ccaesarian, Canberra College of Advanced Education Newspaper

1979

Universe, Journal of The Astronomical Society of New South Wales