Dr Virginia Keft is a Muruwari artist living and working on Dharawal Country (Wollongong, NSW). Through weaving, sculpture, painting and installation, she creates works that bring together eucalyptus bark, fibre, silk, bronze and timber to reflect relationships between Country and madjam (flying foxes). Drawing on her own Muruwari cultural knowledge and lived experience, her practice centres truth-telling, ecological care and the enduring presence of Country.

Her work has been recognised through major awards, public commissions and finalist exhibitions, and is held in public and private collections in Australia and internationally. In 2025, Keft exhibited alongside twenty-five Australian artists at Galerie Handwerk in Munich, Germany.

Keft is the Producer of bangawarra Art Yarns for older and Elder mob at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (University Medal), a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Distinction), and a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) from the University of Wollongong.

Awards & Recognitions

  • Finalist, 2026 Visual Arts Fellowship (emerging), Artspace & Create NSW

    Winner, Sculpture award, Linden New Art

  • Winner, People’s Choice, Sculpture in the Gardens Wollongong, 2025

    Grant recipient - Create NSW, for The Picket Fence Project.

  • Winner, 2D Mixed, Stanthorpe Art Prize, Stanthorpe Regional Gallery

    Winner, Du Rietz Art Awards, Gympie Regional Gallery

    Highly Commended, North Sydney Art Prize, Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability

    Winner, Grace Cossington Smith art award, Grace Cossington Smith Gallery

    Highly Commended, Blacktown City Art Prize, Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown

    Finalist, North Sydney Art Prize, The Coal Loader, Waverly

    Finalist, The Alice Prize, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

    Finalist, Midsumma Art Award, No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne

  • Winner, UOW Alumni Awards: Arts & Culture, University of Wollongong

    Winner, First Nations Award, M16 Artspace Drawing Prize, Canberra

    Winner, Muru Award, Hidden: Rookwood Sculptures, Rookwood 

    Winner, yapang Emerging Art Prize, Museum of Art and Culture (yapang), Booragul, Lake Macquarie

    Finalist, Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, Sydney

    Finalist, Fishers Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown

    Finalist, Banyule Award for Works on Paper, Melbourne

    Finalist, National Capital Art Prize, Aarwun Gallery, Canberra

    Finalist, Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Burnie

    Finalist, Footscray Art Prize, Footscray Community Arts, Melbourne

    Finalist, Gosford Art Prize, Gosford Regional Gallery, Gosford

    Finalist, Georges River Art Prize, Hurstville Museum and Gallery, Hurstville

    Finalist, Omnia Art Prize, St Kevins, Melbourne

    Finalist, Hornsby Art Award, Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, Hornsby

    Finalist, Fairholme Art Prize, Fairholme Toowoomba

    Finalist, Milburn Art Prize, Brisbane Institute of Art, Brisbane 

    Finalist, York Botanic Art Prize, Gallery 152, York

    Highly Commended (First Nations), Blacktown City Art Prize, Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown

  • Winner: People’s Choice Award, Lake Art Prize, Museum of Art &

    Culture (Yapang),Booragul, Lake Macquarie

    Highly Commended, 2022 GreenWay Art Prize, Leichhardt