Biography

Dr. Virginia Keft is a Murriwarri Woman; artist, performer, and researcher. Virginia lives and works on Dharawal and Gadigal Country. She has firm links to her community and whenever possible she spends time on Country connecting with family, sharing knowledge and forging bonds through culture.

Her practice includes painting, drawing, weaving, sculpture and sound art. Her work is a powerful statement on the resilience of tradition, the persistence of cultural memory, and the strength of Aboriginal identity. Her work celebrates connections to place, community, and language. Weaving features in her practice, physically and symbolically. Language is woven into the works - in letter, sound, symbol, line and pattern, reflecting its scattered but persisting presence.

Virginia is Producer and curator of bangawarra Art Yarns: for older and Elder mob at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia and project lead for Weaving Collective - a joint initiative between Parramatta Artist Studios and Parramatta Powerhouse that is overseeing the creation of a weaving garden at the new Parramatta Powerhouse. Virginia was a resident of the National Gallery of Australia’s 2022 Indigenous Arts Leadership Program. Recently, Virginia was announced as the winner of the 2023 yapang Emerging Art Prize and winner of the 2023 Muru Award at Hidden Rookwood Sculptures.

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CV

Dr Virginia Keft

Murrawarri woman
Lives and works on Dharawal and Gadigal Country (Wollongong and Sydney)

Education

2007
2001

​1997

Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD), Literature and Visual Arts University of Wollongong
Bachelor of Arts Honours - Class 1, University of Wollongong
Bachelor of Creative Arts & Design - with Distinction, University of Wollongong
Associate Diploma of Fine Arts - with Distinction, Tafe NSW

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024


2023

​​2022​

Saltwater Country, First Draft, Sydney [forthcoming]
pinampi Country thigga, Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, Woollahra [forthcoming]
Waalarrinji (long-time-now), WayOut Art Space, Kandos [forthcoming]
Mountains + Saltwater, 130 Art Studios, Wollongong
Wala yukunh patatjulu (not cloud sky having), Abstract Thoughts Gallery, Darlinghurst 
Threads Reclaimed, m2, Surry Hills NSW
Black Sky Fox, Art Space on The Concourse, Chatswood NSW

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023
​

​
​2022
​

(Re)telling: Stories of Country and Truth, Art Space on The Concourse,Chatswood [curator & artist]
Raw Records: Materials in Practice, Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown
The Great Garden Show, Granville Arts Centre, Granville
Reach, Gallery Lane Cove, Lane Cove
Guraban: Where the salt water meets the freshwater, Hurstville Museum and Gallery, Hurstville
Proper Way: Us Women, Us Men, Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown NSW

Art and Design Commissions

2022
​2021
1991-2006
1998

1997

1996

NAIDOC Week design​, Miller Central Shopping, Miller NSW
​Art Yarns, program marketing artwork and logo, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
Album art and cover design, various albums, Rodney Rude Pty Ltd.
“Wolf”, Scarp: An Anthology of New Arts and Writing. No.33, October 1998. R.K. Pretty (ed). Wollongong, NSW: University of Wollongong.
“Soft Owl”, Scarp: An Anthology of New Arts and Writing. No.31, October 1997. R.K. Pretty (ed). Wollongong, NSW: University of Wollongong.
(Illustrations) Big Mob Books for Little Fullas: The Aboriginal Emergent Readers Kit. Kate Merrifield (ed). Sydney, NSW: Board of Studies NSW, 1997.
(Illustrations), Williams, Suzi. Language, Language Everywhere. Australia:Macmillan, 1996

Selected Prizes & Awards

2023
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2022
​

​

​2021

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, Banyule Award for Works on Paper, Melbourne
Finalist, National Capital Art Prize, Aarwun Gallery, Canberra
Finalist, Fisher's Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney
Finalist, Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Burnie
Finalist, M16 Art Space Drawing Prize, M16 Art Space, Canberra
Finalist, York Botanic Art Prize, York
Finalist, Grace Cossington Smith Biennial Art Award, Sydney
Finalist, Gosford Art Prize, Gosford Regional Gallery
Finalist, Milburn Art Prize, Brisbane Institute of Art, Brisbane 
Finalist, Georges River Art Prize, Hurstville Museum and Gallery, Sydney
Finalist, Footscray Art Prize, Footscray Community Arts, Melbourne
Finalist, Hornsby Art Award, Sydney
Finalist, Omnia Art Prize, St Kevins, Melbourne
Finalist, Fairholme Art Prize, Fairholme Toowoomba
Finalist, Harden Art Prize, Harden-Murrumburrah
Finalist, Trails Sculpture Prize, Portland
Highly Commended, Blacktown City Art Prize, Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown
Residency, Indigenous Arts Leadership Program, National Gallery of Australia (NGA)
Winner, People’s Choice Award, Lake Art Prize, Museum of Art & Culture (Yapang),Booragul, Lake Macquarie
Highly Commended, 2022 GreenWay Art Prize, Leichhardt
​Finalist, Fishers Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Art Centre, Campbelltown
Finalist | The Lake Art Prize 2022, Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, Booragul NSW
Finalist | Urunga Small Sculptures 2021, The Art Space, Urunga NSW
Finalist | Into the light Art Prize, Whitewall Art Projects, Berrima NSW

Collections

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney NSW
Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown NSW
Australian And International Private Collections

Professional Membership, Boards, & Positions

​2022 - present
​2021 - present
​

First Nations Advisory Committee | Red Rattler Theatre
​Indigenous Art Code | Virginia Keft is an active Artist Member of the Indigenous Art Code.
Art Yarns Reference Group | (MCA) Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
Art & Dementia Program Coordinator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group | Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
Associate Member of Indigenous Allied Health Australia |  Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA)

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