Kimberley Moulton
VAULT sat down with First Nations curator and self-proclaimed “conduit for community” Kimberley Moulton to discuss the significant moments that have shaped her stellar career. A Yorta Yorta woman, Moulton has over 15 years of experience curating and writing across historical collections and contemporary artistic practice. She has been appointed Adjunct Curator specialising in First Nations and Indigenous Art at the Tate in London.
Image credit: Michael Cook, Invasion (giant birds), 2017, inkjet print, 81 × 120 cm. Courtesy and © the artist
How did you come to be working in art? What sparked your passion in the beginning?
I guess I was always really fascinated with culture and history and art and leant into it as a child. I grew up in Shepparton, in country Victoria. My dad was really into history, so we grew up going to our Country, going up the river to Burma, to Cummeragunja, and going to old colonial homesteads. I was reflecting the other day on the first work that changed how I think about Indigenous art when I was studying art at university. It was Destiny Deacon’s Melancholy (2000). It’s the one with the watermelon and the baby’s head. I just had this lightbulb moment, where I was like, “Oh, wow, this is Aboriginal art.” And it’s a female Aboriginal artist. From there, my interest and passion continued.
So, what do you see as your role? Your work is so much more than curation and outreach.
I think I’ve always spoken to my curatorial practice as a conduit, a person who sits between community and artists and history and communicates between institutions, civic space and collections. I love the storytelling that comes with curating, getting to know people’s stories as well as creating my own ideas around how to interpret history and decide what’s really important to us as Indigenous people right now. I take it... Subscribe to read all articles in full
