Alison Page: Creative Shape Shifter
Presented by Melbourne School of Design
DETAILS
Free, no booking required
Glyn Davis Building (MSD), Masson Road, Parkville VIC, Australia
DATES
Sat 16 May 10am – 4pm
Sun 17 May 10am – 4pm
Mon 18 May 10am – 4pm
Tue 19 May 10am – 4pm
Wed 20 May 10am – 4pm
Thu 21 May 10am – 4pm
Fri 22 May 10am – 4pm
Designer, filmmaker and artist Alison Page always has ideas on the go. In her first solo exhibition, Page explores the ancient and contemporary stories that drive her design process. One of the first Indigenous designers to break into the Sydney design scene in the 1990s, her work has long contributed to what she describes as a life force that connects both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to Country.
From her work with the Merrima Aboriginal Design Unit to establishing the National Aboriginal Design Agency (NADA), Page has been motivated by a strong entrepreneurial vision and by the ways design can contribute to social and environmental justice for Aboriginal people. Beginning with a focus on defining ‘what is Aboriginal design’, this exhibition traces the development of a practice that explores how BLAK design can inform and enrich everyday Australian life.
The exhibition presents diverse objects, images and films, encompassing interiors, landscapes, public art, furniture, jewellery and coffee makers.
Exhibition curated by Alison Page and A/Prof Jillian Walliss.
Acknowledgements
This exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects, Tilt Industrial Design and Breville. We gratefully acknowledge their ongoing commitment to design, innovation and creative practice.
Alison is the 2026 Robert Garland Treseder Fellow at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne. This Fellowship enables artists, business innovators, designers, policy leaders, start-ups, architects and scholars dedicated to the development and promotion of design-based innovation to visit Melbourne. We are grateful for the generous ongoing support of the Robert Garland Treseder Fellowship.
Participants
Alison Page
Alison Page is a descendant of the Dharawal and Yuin people and an award-winning creative at the forefront of the contemporary Australian Aboriginal cultural movement. She is a leading force in the Australian design scene, with an extensive career spanning design, public art, interiors, exhibitions and urban design.Her career began in the late 1990s working in architecture and interior design with Australia’s first Aboriginal architecture group, Merrima. Her practice later expanded to include urban design, sculpture and film. Her projects include Wellama (2019), a permanent film installation at Barangaroo; The Message (2020), a film installation for the Endeavour 250 exhibition at the National Museum of Australia (NMA); and The Eyes of the Land and the Sea (2020), a sculpture at Kamay Botany Bay National Park. In 2022 she created the film experience Ochre and Sky for the Great Southern Land exhibition at NMA, and in 2024 completed Burbangana, a collection of film and sculptural works for Liverpool Hospital. She is currently working on a number of permanent sculpture projects in Sydney, including the new OneCQ address at Circular Quay, the redevelopment of the David Jones building, the Sydney Fish Market, Westmead Children’s Hospital, M6 Parklands and Bondi Pavilion.She is currently Professor of Practice at the UTS Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building and a member of several cultural boards, including the National Australia Day Council, Sydney Harbour Federation Trust and the Australian National Maritime Museum.She is the founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency and Saltwater Freshwater Arts Alliance. In 2015 she was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame and in 2022 received the Interior Design Excellence Awards Gold Medal. Alison was a panellist for eight years on the ABC television program The New Inventors, which showcased Australian innovation. In 2021 she co-authored Design, Building on Country with Paul Memmott, published by Thames & Hudson Australia as part of their First Knowledges series.